


Treasure for All

by Shining_Red_Diamond



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: ATEEZ (Band) Are Pirates, Action/Adventure, Adventure & Romance, F/M, Pirates, Treasure Hunting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:34:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 20
Words: 23,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27491302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shining_Red_Diamond/pseuds/Shining_Red_Diamond
Summary: ATEEZ weren’t your typical pirates, but rather scientists who wanted to find adventure: A captain wanting to explore beyond horizons and follow in his late father’s footsteps, and his fiancée willing to sacrifice so much for him; an oceanographer left alone to fend for himself, and his fiancée sticking by him; a med-school dropout and a computer genius struggling to pay off her grandfather’s medical bills; a navigator and his expectant, heiress wife longing for a place to call home; a pilot with a big heart and his math wiz girlfriend struggling with putting her trust in others; a gymnast meteorologist and her physicist boyfriend who questions if he’s ever really loved; a mechanic wanting to find love, and a pyrotechnic with the strength of an army but a short fused temper. When an ancient scroll tells of a treasure lost in time, the crew decides to not only find it, but use it for the good of mankind. However, each member along with their significant others’ also discover their own treasures along the way.Rated: M (for violence, angst, some sensuality, character death, and a childbirth scene)
Relationships: ATEEZ/OC
Kudos: 1





	1. Nightmares

The bedroom door flew open, and Mrs. Wilcox raced in, still dressed in her nightgown. She shook her youngest daughter awake.

“Celestia,” she called.

The young woman immediately woke up. “What’s wrong?” she asked while noticing San rush in behind her mother.

“You two need to hurry,” Mrs. Wilcox replied as she grabbed Celestia’s bag and started tossing clothes and other personal items in it.

“What’s happening?”

“The house has been broken into,” San explained as he helped Celestia out of bed, putting her rain boots on her feet.

“Can’t we just call the police?”

“This isn’t just a robbery, sweetheart,” her mother replied as she threw one last pair of socks into Celestia’s bag. “They’re planning to kill us all.”

“Why? What did we do?”

San led his wife to the window, which led out to her balcony. “I can’t explain now, angel,” he said. “Just know that no matter what happens or where we go, I’m always going to protect you.”

“Take this.” Mrs. Wilcox handed her daughter a large envelope. “There’s over $800,000 in there. I know it’s a lot, but it’s enough to get you going. Keep it safe.”

“You’re not coming?” Celestia asked, taking the envelope.

Kissing her daughter’s head, she whispered with a tear filling her eye, “I’m afraid not, dear.”

“Please, come with us, mom,” she begged as she felt her heart beginning to break.

“Celestia, listen to me.” Her mother held her face in her hands. “Although you’re still my baby, you’re grown up. You’re old enough to make your own choices, and you have an amazing and loving husband who’s going to take care of you. Right now, you two need to run away from here as fast as possible.”

“Where is she?!” a voice boomed.

“Come on, angel,” San pulled Celestia out of the window.

“I love you, mom,” she called.

“I love you, sweetheart,” Mrs. Wilcox shouted.

San was the first one to climb down the ladder by the balcony, and he held it in place for his wife to climb down after tossing her bag and the envelope down to him. After knocking over the ladder, he grabbed Celestia’s hand and dashed away towards the back entrance. Neither of them had a vehicle to get away in, so they would have to travel on foot until they could find a car suitable for them to drive in.

Gunshots could be heard from the house, and the two immediately stopped in their tracks as they began to smell smoke. Turning around, the home they both grew up in was now engulfed in flames. The couple could only hold each other, knowing they were the only family they had now. Them against the world.

…

Celestia’s eyes shot open as she gasped. Taking in her surroundings, she realized everything had all been dream. Well, it had actually happened, but it was a recurring nightmare ever since that fateful night. She had been having these nightmares more than crazy pregnancy dreams, which she wished would happen more often. Her heart was still racing from the sudden jolt awake but breathed a sigh of relief knowing she was safe in her and San’s bedchambers.

Choi San.

Celestia’s beloved husband.

She loved him more than anything, and he was all she had left other than their child growing inside of her. The day they confessed to each other was also the day they knew they wanted to be together for eternity. With the money he had earned from working for her father, San was able to buy her the diamond she wore on her left ring finger. True, they married quite young, but she wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world. It was their decision.

Celestia glanced at the clock on the nightstand.

4:00 AM.

It was another two and half hours before it was time for everyone to wake up and start the day, but Celestia couldn’t go back to sleep.

Taking one look at her sleeping husband, she slowly rose from her side of the bed and crept out of the room. San and Celestia’s bedchambers were the last door at the end of the hallway at the bottom of the ship. She hated how dark it was during the night, but she was thankful Hongjoong kept at least one light on in the middle of the ceiling during bedtime hours. She crept down the hall as quietly as she could towards the staircase that led to the deck. Her fellow crew mate Phoebe was a light sleeper, so she was extra careful when passing her door. Successfully, she made it to the base of the steps without so much as a creak in the floorboards.

Climbing the steps seemed to be more and more challenging as her pregnancy progressed. She was about eight and a half months along, the staircase was only twelve steps high; but she was already out of breath by the time she was on the deck. As excited as she was to be a mother soon, there were things about pregnancy that she could live without. The hormones made her emotionally unstable at times, the smell of San’s cologne was making her nauseous, and she hated the way she looked some days. The only good things coming from it was the baby’s movements she felt and the love she was feeling for her future child.

Once she had caught her breath, Celestia made her way over to the starboard. Looking over the wooden railing, she could see the ship was in flight. There was nothing but the moon, stars, and a few clouds covering the night sky.

Peaceful was all she could describe it as.

A pair of strong arms suddenly snaked around her waist, hands gently resting on her basketball-sized baby bump. She recognized the wedding band on the left ring finger. San was up.

“What are you doing up so early, baby?” he asked, placing a kiss on her earlobe.

She relaxed into his embrace, taking note of his warm bare chest. “Nightmares.”

“Again?” he asked.

“Yeah.” She turned to face him. “I just came out here to clear my head. I couldn’t go back to sleep.”

“I was wondering why the bed suddenly got cold,” San chuckled with a twinkle in his eye.

“I didn’t want to wake you.”

He kissed her lovingly. “No matter what time of day or night it is, snuggles are always available.”

“Thanks.”

His hand made its way to her stomach, the baby moving as if to respond to her father’s touch.

“Can we all go back to bed now?” San asked.

“Will you carry me at least?” Celestia begged as she threw her arms around his neck. “Climbing the staircase is such a chore for me now.”

San happily scooped up his pregnant wife and began walking back quietly to their bedchambers.

“I love you so much,” he smiled as they made it into the door.

“I love you, too,” she replied as she was placed on her side of the bed. Celestia grabbed her hairbrush from her nightstand and began to comb through her now tangled red locks.

San couldn’t help but stare as he adjusted himself under the blankets. His wife was the most beautiful woman in the world to him. Even when she claimed she felt ugly sometimes, he could never find one flaw on her.

“What is it?” She caught him.

“You’re just so beautiful, Celestia,” he sighed. “I just can never figure out how I was so blessed to be married to such an angel.”

She blushed. No matter how many times he talked so sweetly or flirted with her, she always found herself head over heels in love with him.

“I guess it’s true what they say about pregnancy,” her husband added.

“And what might that be?” She placed her brush back on her nightstand and snuggled into San’s chest, his arms wrapping around her tightly.

“It makes the mother glow.” He kissed her forehead. “The moonlight just adds to it.”


	2. London

A loud buzzing pounded in Dahae’s ears. She reached to her nightstand and pressed the button on her clock to shut it off. Slowly she sat up and stretched while letting out a silent yawn. Her eyes wandered over to the small window that was allowing the early morning sun to seep through.

This is going to be a good day, she thought.

“ _Good morning, beautiful_ ,” Hongjoong greeted her while carrying a tray of food and setting it on the small coffee table in the middle of the bedroom. “ _I had Grace-Anne prepare you a meal that’ll help you with your strength today._ ”

Dahae had fallen ill with food poisoning two days prior. The crew had visited a dig site in the outskirts of Guatemala City, and she was the only one whose dinner had been wrongly prepared. Her fellow medic Yeosang was quick to diagnose her and make a list of what she needed to eat and take. Thankfully, she was recovering quickly but still felt a little weak. Hongjoong had forbidden her from finishing any of her work until she was completely well.

Hongjoong was a pretty flexible guy, but he also had a particular way of keeping things in order around the ship. If a crewmember was ill, they were quickly limited to what they could and couldn’t do after being checked and diagnosed by either Yeosang or Dahae. On cleaning days, everyone had to take part to clean their bedrooms, do laundry, mop the deck, whatever. He made sure everyone was working together by putting their skills to good use.

“ _Wake up, Sleeping Beauty_ ,” Hongjoong sing-songed as he stroked his fiancée’s head. Dahae hadn’t realized she dozed off again.

“ _I’m up_ ,” she claimed as she opened her eyes. Hongjoong’s smiling face was the first thing she saw.

“ _Stand up and come eat your breakfast, and I’ll believe you_ ,” he chuckled before pecking her forehead.

“ _Yes, mom_ ,” Dahae teased as she crawled out of bed.

Making her way over to her chair by the coffee, she could still feel her legs feeling as if they were a mix of lead and jelly, but at least her stomach didn’t feel like fire. Her breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, a banana, and orange juice.

“ _I noticed the weather looked nice today_ ,” she said as she began peeling the banana.

Hongjoong sat in his chair next to Dahae’s and began to study his maps on his computer. “ _Dinah predicts it’ll be sunny until we get to London._ ”

“ _What’s in London?_ ”

“ _A friend of my dad’s is an archeologist and explorer there,_ ” he explained. “ _He just returned from an expedition in the Conga and found something he wants us all to see._ ”

“ _What did he find?_ ” Dahae sipped her orange juice before starting on her eggs.

“ _He didn’t exactly say. He just messaged me about it last night, and I told Mingi to set a course for London._ ”

“ _I see._ ”

“ _Speaking of London_ ,” Hongjoong said as he shut his laptop and turned towards Dahae and took her left hand into his, “ _I was hoping we could go to a jewelry place and pick out your engagement ring while we’re there._ ”

Dahae’s eyes lit up. Hongjoong had proposed but didn’t have a diamond to put on her finger, only the white rubber ring she currently wore. She didn’t mind, but Hongjoong had always noticed how much she admired Celestia’s wedding ring and Grace-Anne’s engagement ring. All he wanted was for the woman he loved to be happy.

“ _I’d love to, Joong_ ,” she smiled. “ _But will we have time?_ ”

He kissed her cheek. “ _I plan on having us stay there for at least two nights._ ”

“ _Two nights? We usually stay only one night._ ”

“ _I’ve been doing some thinking lately, and I know that our explorations are becoming more tiring with each new challenge; so I decided to treat everyone with an extra day in London._ ”

“ _So, basically, a vacation day?_ ” Dahae asked, a grin slowly blooming on her face.

Hongjoong nodded.

The crew had been getting more and more tired in the past few months, and Hongjoong had taken note. He had always put others first to a point he sometimes wears himself out doing so. Dahae admired how much he cared for everyone else around him, and she loved that about her fiancé; but the dark circles under his eyes worried her. He was a hard worker, but Dahae didn’t want him to work until his death. When he said they would all take a rest day, her heart was put at ease.

“ _Seonghwa, Yeosang, and I have been discussing a rest day for a while, but we could never agree on a proper time.”_

“ _When did you decide now was a good time?_ ” Dahae asked as she finished her meal, Hongjoong taking the tray.

“ _This morning just before I got your breakfast_ ,” he replied as he headed towards the bedroom door. “ _We’ll be landing in about three hours. Do you feel okay to walk around?_ ”

“ _Joong, I stopped vomiting yesterday morning._ ” She stood from her chair and began walking towards the bathroom. “ _I think I’m more than capable to explore._ ”

“ _Alright, but if you still feel bad later, please tell me._ ”

“Aye, aye, Captain,” Dahae saluted just before shutting the bathroom door.

Hongjoong chuckled at her remark as he strolled out of the room with the tray of empty dishware in his hands.

The captain made his way around the corner, past the dining hall, and into the kitchen where Yunho was busy with a boiling pot. The island counter was covered in utensils, vegetables and herbs. Yunho was dressed in his pajamas still, but his hair was combed.

“ _Good morning, Yunho_ ,” Hongjoong greeted.

“ _Good morning, Captain_ ,” his crewmate replied with a bow.

“ _Dude, it’s just us. You don’t have to call me ‘Captain.’_ ”

“ _Sorry. Just a habit._ ”

Hongjoong placed the tray by the sink, and looked around the kitchen. “ _Where’d Grace-Anne go?_ ”

“ _She went to go wake Seonghwa and get ready for the day_ ,” Yunho replied. “ _How’s Dahae feeling?_ ”

“ _A lot better_.” Hongjoong leaned against the counter. “ _The color is back in her face._ ”

“ _I’m happy to hear that, but I’m preparing this soup just in case we have another emergency like that again._ ”

As much as he was the repairman and engineer for The HALA, Yunho was also a cook alongside Grace-Anne. He always had a recipe book with dishes made for those who were sick or had certain food allergies, and Yunho had been using it the past two and half days to help with Dahae’s illness. Grace-Anne had one similar but mainly used it to prepare Celestia’s meals, as she couldn’t eat certain foods while pregnant.

Yunho pulled the wooden spoon out of the metal pot, placed the lid on it, and turned down the stove. “ _So where are we going?_ ” he asked as he untied his apron and hung it on the wall hook.

“ _London_ ,” Hongjoong replied. “ _We’re arriving there in about three hours, so be ready by then._ ”


	3. Breakfast on Deck

The breeze blew gently as the early morning sun was rising in the horizon. Although the ship had an invisible, pressurized shield around it, one could still feel some wind when the HALA was in flight mode. This allowed the crew to be able to breathe normally in high altitudes, and it was turned off when they were sailing on the sea.

Wooyoung carried a bowl of cereal, an orange, and a silver spoon to the ladder attached to the crow’s nest, Dinah had been up there since 6:55 that morning, and he knew she must’ve been starving by now.

“Dinah?” he called to her.

“Hi, cutie,” a voice behind him giggled, causing him to jump a little. “Sorry.”

Turning around, Wooyoung found his girlfriend half hanging on to the ladder. She leaned backwards to make herself upside down and Spider-man kissed him.

“I brought you breakfast,” he smiled as he handed her the bowl, fruit, and silver spoon. “Orange and cereal. No milk.”

“Thank you,” Dinah sighed as she climbed down the ladder. “I’m starving.”

The two sat on the wooden floor of the ship and Dinah began to eat her meal. Dinah had always eaten her cereal dry. She wasn’t lactose intolerant, but for some reason her stomach could never hold down milk no matter what kind it was. Every type from two percent to almond milk that she had tried since she was born; it always ended up being barfed up. Wooyoung found this out when they were in middle school. She had accidentally spilled her soda during lunch. When he offered her his milk carton, she had to tell him she couldn’t drink milk due to her sensitive stomach. Ever since then, he was extra cautious in what food was given to her.

“How’s the weather?” he asked.

Dinah made eye contact with him. “Are you making a joke or being serious?”

Wooyoung shrugged. “Both.”

“All jokes aside, it’s nice for now. Just have a raincoat on when we arrive.”

The two continued talking while Dinah cleaned her bowl. Wooyoung’s English, along with the rest of the crew’s, had been improving since each member had met their significant others. Yunho and Jongho had also learning as well, but Wooyoung still struggled. He had known Dinah for a few years before they became a couple, yet he couldn’t seem to form good sentences no matter how hard he tried. An English dictionary was housed in his pocket to help him out when needed. Mingi was another crew-member who couldn’t speak English well, but he did his best. However, his girlfriend Taeran was Korean native as Dahae was, so she never had to use English around him, even though both girls were good English speakers. San was pretty fluent in English. He often claimed he only spoke a little bit, but Celestia always said that he knows more than he lets on. This was confirmed when some of the crew eavesdropped on him talking to his unborn child one afternoon. A humble man, he was.

Dinah, on the other hand, learned Korean pretty quickly and was able to speak to her boyfriend with no issue. Wooyoung envied her talent, but he wasn’t about to give up trying his best to learn English.

“ _Hey, you two_ ,” Jongho called to them as he was coming up from below deck. “ _Hongjoong is calling us for a morning meeting_.”

“ _We’ll be right there_ ,” Dinah called back. She scooped up her now empty bowl and glass as she stood. She then turned to Wooyoung. “ _I’ll meet you in the board room in a minute_.”

—

Hongjoong flipped over the corkboard to the white dry-erase board as Yunho turned on the projector hanging from the ceiling. The rest of the crew made themselves comfortable as they entered the captain’s large office. Celestia eased herself into one of the chairs, San standing behind it as he rested his hands on her shoulders. Mingi sat in the other chair with Taeran standing next to him. The other girls either sat on the floor or stood, while the rest of ATEEZ stood on leaned against the wall.

“ _Good morning, everyone_ ,” Hongjoong said after gathering his thoughts. “ _I hope everyone had a good night’s sleep. As you all know by now, we are headed to London to meet a friend of my father’s, Dr. Joseph Steinbeck_.” He pressed a button in his hand, and an image of a middle-aged man with dark hair and glasses in a lab coat appeared. His hands were covered in purple latex gloves while he held up what looked like an old statue.

“ _Like Celestia,_ ” the captain continued, “ _he’s an archaeologist based in London._ ” He kept pressing the button on the device to show the next slides, images of the scientists working or presenting artifacts he had discovered. “ _Over the last thirty years or so, he’s made headlines on his findings and now preserves them in one of the history museums near his lab._ ”

“ _What are we going to see him for?_ ” Yeosang asked.

“ _He contacted me last night, asking for us to drop by. He found something on one of his most recent findings and wants us to help him out._ ”

“ _What did he find?_ ” Taeran chimed in.

“ _He didn’t say_.”

An alarm went off. It came from Dinah’s pocket.

“Dinah, we did we say about phones during meetings?”

“Sorry, captain,” Dinah apologized as she check her phone. “But I’m in charge of the crow’s nest, and we’re about to hit water soon.”

The center of gravity seemed to shift after she said that.

“How soon?” Hongjoong asked.

“Five minutes.”

“ _Alright, I’ll make this quick._ ” The captain’s tone of voice changed.“ _When we get to London, stay together, as usual. We are staying an extra day for a short vacation time, but we still need to be back on the ship at 8:30 in the evening. Now, when we get to his house, you can look at the artifact collection, but don’t touch anything. They’re his findings he’s donating to other museums at a later date. Understand?_ ”

The crew nodded.

“ _Alright, prepare for arrival._ ”


	4. The Professor

Mingi steadied the ship as it touched and glided onto the North Sea’s waves, riding into the River Thames. Switching from air to water was always a little bumpy, but the pilot had trained himself to steady his position when steering the HALA during that transition. A course was set for a seaport near Big Ben, and from there the crew would head to Dr. Steinbeck’s lab on foot.

“ _How much longer_?” Taeran asked from behind him.

“ _About another half hour_ ,” he replied, not taking his eyes off of the water. “ _How come?_ ”

Taeran shrugged. “ _Something about this whole thing seems fishy to me_.”

“ _Baby,_ ” Mingi sighed, as he met her eyes for a brief second,“ _I love you, but you need to stop assuming that everyone we meet has ill intentions._ ”

“ _You know I can’t help it,_ ” she argued. “ _But I really do feel that something is off about this whole thing this time. I don’t care if Hongjoong’s father knew the man or not. Why wouldn’t he say what he has and why he wants us to see whatever he has?_ ”

“ _Maybe he has good reason_.”

“ _Name one_.” She crossed her arms.

Mingi didn’t answer. He never knew what to say whenever his girlfriend made remarks like that. It was her way of saying, “I’m right, so don’t even argue.”

Gently back hugging him, her cheek meeting into the middle of his back, she sighed. “ _I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap like that. I just don’t want any of us to get hurt._ ”

Mingi took her hand and kissed the back of it. “ _Have instincts isn’t something to be sorry for._ ”

Taeran let go of him and stood on her tiptoes to peck his cheek before giving him a soft smile.

Thunder boomed loudly in the distance.

“Okay,” Dinah’s voice sounded over their earpieces, “I know I’m not the only one who heard that madness, so I’m not gonna ask if y’all did. Dress warmly, bring umbrellas if you have them, and wear your rain gear. We don’t need anyone catching a cold.”

-

After braiding her blonde locks, Phoebe sat on her bed and gazed upon the picture of her and her grandparents. She missed them dearly, but she knew traveling was going to help her grandfather heal. Her cousin had texted her that morning saying that he was slowly getting better, but it wasn’t much progress. It gave her some hope, but she still worried.

Phoebe felt tears sting the edges of her eyes, but inhaled sharply to hold them back. Yeosang didn’t like seeing her cry, and she wasn’t about to now.

“Are you alright?” he asked from behind her.

Yeosang stood at the doorway of her room, two black raincoats in his arms.

“Yeah,” Phoebe nodded. “Just worried about Pops.”

“Any progress?”

Phoebe stood up, placed the picture back on her nightstand, and walked towards Yeosang. “He’s a little bit better, but not much progress. He’s still ill.”

“Better than none at all,” he smiled as he held Phoebe’s coat open for her to slide her arms into the sleeves. She zipped up her coat as her boyfriend threw his on.

Yeosang had only met Phoebe’s grandparents once when they were still at college. It was a family day, and both families had been introduced to each other. He had learned that the only family his girlfriend had was her grandparents and twin cousins, both being five years older than her and one of them having cerebral palsy. Phoebe was very caring towards her family and loved them to pieces, but Yeosang wasn’t expecting her to join him when he decided to leave school to start his own path despite his family’s protests.

“I want to help my family, and I want to be with you,” she had said.

He had tried to talk her out of it, promising up and down that he’d come back to her; but she had put her foot down and joined him. Quite frankly, he wouldn’t want it any other way.

“What do you think London is like?” she asked.

“I’ve only been once,” he replied as he put his hat on. “But it was just as rainy.”

“So not much has probably changed.”

“I don’t think so.”

Lightning flashed and thunder clapped loudly shortly after. Rain was pattering rapidly against the window. It seemed to match Phoebe’s mood. She wanted to be excited for an extra day in a city, but couldn’t help but feel down. She wanted to smile, but her facial muscles were refusing the action.

Yeosang’s lips kissed her cheek as his arms wrapped around her. Their foreheads touched.

“We’re going to have a good day,” he promised.

“If you say so,” Phoebe sighed.

“I know so.”

–

The HALA pulled into an open dock. Yunho hopped over the ship’s railing, which was about an eight-foot drop from the dock, and tied one end of the secure rope to one of the cleats tightly. A low-whirring noise came from the ship and a door on the side of the opened. Each of the crewmembers, all covered in dark raincoats and ponchos, emerged from the ship. All of the men wore black hats and masks as the women wore dark coats and held umbrellas to protect themselves from the pouring rain.

Hongjoong was the first to step out. He turned back towards the door and held out his hand to help Celestia out of the boat, San following closely behind her. The rest of the crew had no trouble stepping onto the docks. Jongho was the last one to exit after punching in the code to close the door.

Pulling his mask down from his face, Hongjoong turned towards his crew.

“ _The professor’s lab is a short walk,_ ” he talked over the pounding of raindrops on the wooden dock,“ _so we’ll be there in no time. Just stay together at all times as we go._ ”

Dahae rushed to his side, an umbrella in her right hand and her left arm linking with his. Their eyes met as he pushed his mask back in face, but he still smiled at his fiancée; she returned it.

The city almost seemed gloomy, given the grey atmosphere. Citizens were bustling about, covering themselves with coats and umbrellas to try to stay dry. Shops were filled with people coming in and out, and the crew could smell the aroma of pastries from the various café’s lining the streets they walked on. Different vehicles drove by, some regular cars and some trucks carrying farm equipment.

A few pedestrians did give the group odd looks as if they were up to something, but Hongjoong had told them to not pay them any mind. The last thing they needed was trouble.

After a few minutes of walking, the group finally reached an open area between two other large buildings. The front lawn was neatly cut, a water fountain with a lion statue was centered in the middle, and a cobblestone path circled from the sidewalk to the bronze double doors. The building itself looked like a Victorian-era mansion with a large balcony just above the front entrance. Four white pillars stood as if they were holding up the roof, and two potted plants sat on each side of the doors.

“Is this a lab or someone’s castle?” Grace-Anne asked once they all approached the door.

“His house,” the captain replied. “He told us to come here. His personal lab is where he told us to come to.”

“So, we walk through it?”

“Yes.”

Hongjoong used the knocker to alert their presence. One of the doors almost immediately opened, and a tall, young woman with caramel skin and shoulder-length hair was standing on the other side. She was wearing a plain grey shirt, dark jeans, and white tennis shoes; and her smile was warm when she greeted them.

“You must be Hongjoong and the crew of the HALA,” she said, stepping out of their path. “Come on in. The professor’s been expecting you.”


	5. The Quest

One by one, the crew members entered through the bronze door.

“You can hang your coats and hats on the hangers to your left,” the woman instructed, and they followed suit.

The interior of the house had a luxurious aspect to it. The furniture was covered in white fabric, the fireplace had a carved, wooden mantle with a buffalo’s head hanging over it, and the walls were lined with various paintings and marble statues. The floor was a white and black marble with intricately designed carpets covering various spots in the main area. A marble staircase was leading up to a second floor, the railing being a polished wood; and a crystal chandelier glittered from the ceiling.

“Fancy,” Phoebe commented after hanging her coat and setting her umbrella in the umbrella holder.

“I’ll alert the professor you’ve arrived,” the woman said.

“No need, Dalia,” a voice objected from the top of the stairs. “I saw them walking up the path.”

A fairly tall man stood at the top of the staircase. He appeared to be middle-aged with chestnut brown hair and graying at the temples. A dark mustache sat right above his top lip, and his glasses were placed firmly on his nose. He was dressed in light khaki pants, a brown sweater, and a white lab coat with brown dress shoes covering his feet.

“Dr. Steinbeck,” Hongjoong bowed, the rest of crew copying him.

“My goodness, Hongjoong,” the professor smiled as he stepped down the stairs. “How long has it been since I last saw you? Twelve years?”

“I believe so.” He shook the professor’s hand.

“Your father, God rest his soul, often spoke about how you wanted to be the captain of the ship someday.”

“I just hope I am making him proud by doing so.”

“And who are your friends?” Dr. Steinbeck noticed the crew behind the captain.

Hongjoong brought Dahae forward. “This is my fiancée, Dahae.”

“Nice to meet you, professor,” she greeted.

“Pleasure’s all mine, my dear,” the professor returned.

Hongjoong went down the line as he introduced his members. “This is my first mate Seonghwa and his fiancée Grace-Anne. Our quartermaster and medic Yeosang and his girlfriend Phoebe. Our engineer Yunho. Our weapons master and gunman Jongho. The HALA’s pilot Mingi and his girlfriend Taeran. Our physicist Wooyoung and his girlfriend and barrelman Dinah. And our navigation expert San and his wife Celestia.” The captain motioned towards her baby bump. “And this is their daughter.”

The professor’s eyes immediately went to Celestia’s necklace. San took note and scooted closer to her, wrapping an arm around her waist.

“Quite a team you have, I must say.”

“Thank you.”

“Shall we head to my lab?” The professor began to lead the way.

The young woman, now identified as Dalia, walked up to Celestia and asked, “Do you need to sit down, darling?”

“I appreciate it, but I’m alright,” Celestia politely declined. “I’ll let you know if I do.”

Dalia nodded and walked into another room.

The house seemed like any normal one would be. A few pictures hung on the wall displaying family pictures and some achievements. Awards also displayed some of the professor’s accomplishments, and a few doors in the hallway lead to various rooms. They entered another living room, decorated just as luxuriously as the first one, and they were lead to a pair of double doors. A black screen brightened up next to the doors. The professor punched in a code, and a voice said, “Welcome, professor.”

Dr. Steinbeck turned towards the crew. “Ladies and gents, welcome to the Wonder.”

The doors slid open, revealing a brightly lit room filled with artifacts on tables, stored in shelves and some boxes placed under tables. Some tools littered the tables, and a sparkling crown could be seen up front. Other artifacts displayed were a box full of gold coins, an ancient tablet with Latin writings scratched on the surface, and some Greek pottery. Study equipment were sitting on each table as if ready to be used for exam the artifacts. The crew wandered around the lab, gawking and taking in the entire set up but careful not to touch anything as their captain had instructed.

The lab intrigued Celestia the most. Only when she was alone in her room was she able to study her findings, but never in such delicacy as the real archaeologists do. All she had were a few tools and some scrolls she found on her and San’s secret honeymoon in Dubai.

“This is amazing,” she exclaimed as she examined one of the pots, her hands resting on her belly. “And you’ve accomplished all of this in a thirty year time period?”

“It’s only a fraction of what I’ve found,” Dr. Steinbeck claimed. “Everything else is at the main lab by the museum. This is only if I’m trying decipher something big, or if I just want to study something.”

“Is this why you’ve asked us here?” Dahae asked.

“The deciphering part, yes.”

“Lunch is ready, sir,” Dalia announced from the doorway.

“Thank you, but please knock next time, Dalia.”

“Sorry, sir.” She scurried away.

The dining room was just as fancy as the rest of the first floor of the house. A large window revealed a beautiful view of the city, however it was still raining pretty hard. A long wooden table stretched out from one each of the room to the other, and it was able to seat at least twenty people, which was more than enough for the crew. Red placemats were placed at each spot and a plate of salmon, sweet potatoes, and blackberries on top; and a glass of water stood by each meal. Dr. Steinbeck sat at one end of the table, and the crew sitting at the sides with Hongjoong and Seonghwa seated closest to him.

Dalia was in and out of the kitchen and running around the table tending to everyone’s needs. She was their designated waitress for the time being. Yunho couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of her, and everyone else could see why. She was a beauty with smooth caramel skin, sparkling brown eyes, and an aura that radiated warmth and love.

“So what is it you need our help with?” Hongjoong asked after swallowing a piece of salmon. “In your email, you didn’t exactly say what was happening.”

“Well, for starters, with all the talk of hackers these days, you can’t be too careful,” the professor chuckled at his own joke.

“Yeah, I don’t feel attacked,” Phoebe whispered to Yeosang.

“In all seriousness,” Dr. Steinbeck continued, “I was on an expedition in the Conga a few weeks ago, and in one of the scrolls I found, it talked about a diamond so rare and precious that it was cut up into eight different pieces and scattered across the world. So far, only three have been found. Two of them are housed in the Smithsonian in the States. The third one has been missing for about seventy-eight years. No one knows how it disappeared, but some speculate it was either stolen or possibly lost in the transport to the Smithsonian.”

“What about the other five?” Dahae asked. “Has anyone else tried to find them?”

“No. As of now, I’m the only archaeologist in the world who has attempted to do so. However, I have been having trouble decoding some of the clues in the scrolls that reveal the locations of the diamonds. That’s why I contacted you.”

“What made you decide on us?” Celestia asked. “We just like traveling and making discoveries. We’re nothing special.”

“Oh, on the contrary, dear.” He took a sip of his drink before continuing. “When I heard of your most recent discoveries in Peru and Guatemala, I knew I had discovered the perfect team to take on this quest. I’d go on the adventure myself, but I hurt my back on that same dig in the Conga. My doctor wants me resting.”

His eyes wandered back to Celestia’s neck.

“Forgive me for staring, love,” he apologized, “but that is quite a beautiful necklace.”

“Thank you,” she replied. “It was grandmother’s, and then she passed it down to me before she died.”

The professor nodded, his wrinkling face showing wheels turning in his mind. “Do you know where she got it?”

“My grandfather gave it to her the night before they got married, but he never told anyone where he got it.”

“I see.”

Taeran sensed something was off, but decided not to jump to conclusions. If he had hurt his back in Ethiopia, how could he have walked down the stairs so well? Maybe he’s going through physical therapy? However, he didn’t have a cane.

“Anyhow,” the professor continued, “would you all be willing to take on this quest?”

Hongjoong looked around at his crew, all of their eyes filled with hope. He knew his crewmates. Something like this could benefit them all financially in their own ways: San and Celestia could rebuild their old house if they wanted to return home, Grace-Anne and Seonghwa could fund their wedding, Phoebe could pay off her grandfather’s medical bills, and the list goes on. The only downsides were, however, this was going to be much riskier than previous explorations, and Celestia’s pregnancy was the cherry on top.

The captain was hesitant to answer; but if they were going to take this journey, then they were going to have to do what he said without question. Their safety and wellbeing mattered the most to him.

“We will go,” he finally answered, shaking the professor’s hand.


	6. London Eye

After being given the scrolls and bidding their good-byes, the crew set off into the city for their small vacation before starting their adventure. The group agreed to meet at Trafalgar Square around four o’clock, and then dispersed in their own ways. Phoebe, Yeosang, and Yunho went to London Underground, Grace-Anne and Seonghwa headed to the Globe Theatre, Jongho joined Wooyoung and Dinah to the London Eye, Mingi and Taeran headed to the Westminster Abbey, and the captain, Dahae, along with San and Celestia made their way to Bond Street. Each crewmember promised to check in with Hongjoong regularly to make sure everyone was safe.

Hongjoong had promised Dahae an engagement ring, and San wanted to get something for Celestia when the baby was born. She had a pearl bracelet her mother gave her when she was a newborn, and he had overheard Celestia say something about doing something similar if they had daughter. When the couple found out the baby’s gender, San began searching for ideas based on his wife’s bracelet. It had gold tinted pearls strung onto the chain, but Celestia couldn’t wear it until she was about nine years old due to the bracelet’s size.

The four of them walked into a small but elegant jewelry store, varieties of gemstones decorating different pieces of jewelry. All of the pieces on display were enclosed in glass cases, much like a typical jewelry store. The walls were red with gold detailing, and the dim lighting lining them gave a romantic atmosphere.

“What can we do for you loves this afternoon?” a slim woman with sandy-blonde curls asked, another woman with dark features following behind her.

“Good afternoon,” Hongjoong greeted her and brought Dahae foreward. “My fiancée and I are getting married soon, and we’d like to see some engagement rings.”

“Congratulations!” she clapped. “Anything particular? Emerald cut? Princess cut?”

As Hongjoong and Dahae were busy examining ring styles, Celestia excused herself to the restroom. Once she was out of sight, San asked the other woman, “Do you have any bracelets?”

“Of course, dear,” she nodded as she lead him to the other side of the store. “What kind are you looking for?”

San pulled out his phone to show her a picture of Celestia’s childhood jewelry. “My wife and I currently expecting a baby girl, and I overheard her talking about getting one for her when she’s born. The one my wife wears is one she’s had since she was an infant.”

“How wonderful!” She smiled as she examined the photo. “And that’s a beautiful one she has. Are you looking for something like it?”

“Something similar, but still unique. Nothing that’s an exact copy.”

“I think I have just the thing. Wait here.” The woman walked into the back and eventually returned with a small box in hand. She opened the lid and displayed was a small silver chain with three small pearls strung onto it. It was similar to Celestia’s but the pearls were more blush-pink tinted rather than gold.

“It’s beautiful,” San commented. “She’ll love this.”

“I’ll start preparing a bag, sir.”

“Thank you.”

By the time San made the purchase, Celestia had returned from the restroom and met him outside.

“Sorry for taking so long,” she said. “Standing is another struggle.”

“It’s okay,” her husband chuckled before pecking her cheek.

Celestia noticed the bag in his hand. “Did you get something?”

“I’ll show you when we get back to the ship tonight. It’s a surprise.”

“You and your surprises,” she scoffed. “You’re lucky I’m patient.”

“ _Guys, we need to go_ ,” Hongjoong rushed out of the shop door, worry plastered on his face.

“ _Hyung, what happened?_ ” San asked.

“ _It’s Jongho._ ”

“ _Did he lose his temper again?_ ”

“ _Worse_ ,” Dahae said. “ _He’s gotten into a fight._ ”

The quartet waved down a taxi and requested to be taken to the London Eye.

-

Jongho was a loose cannon at times, and everyone knew it. He had grown up with a lot of anger problems, but he learned to keep it under control as he entered adulthood. However, he had his moments. There had been a time where he was having a bad day and two of the crewmembers had walked in on him working in a frustrated manner only to find themselves getting a taste of his wrath when he snapped at them. He never used his hands against them, but he did scream. Jongho had a good heart, but his temper sometimes got the better of him.

The taxi pulled up to the entrance, and the passengers stepped out. After Hongjoong paid the driver, Dinah and Wooyoung were running towards them with a frantic expression.

“What happened?” Celestia asked.

The two caught their breath and explained everything as they rushed to where a crowd of people was surrounding some sort of commotion.

“After Wooyoung, Jongho, and I got off the wheel, some guy starts taunting at us. I said to just ignore them and move on. We keep walking, and then the dude grabs my shoulder to try to turn me towards him. I tell him to back off and show him that Wooyoung is my boyfriend, and then I tried to tell him that grabbing women like that was not okay.”

“And did Jongho get involved?” Dahae asked.

“The guy tried to get in my face, but met Jongho’s fist instead.”

The crowd was loudly chanting, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” Hongjoong pushed his way through the crowd to see what was happening. Sure enough, Jongho was in WWE mode with another guy. The man was on the ground face down and half of his face being smushed by Jongho’s hand. The younger boy was kneeling, his knee pinning the man down, His free hand was holding the man’s wrists together tightly.

“Choi Jongho!” Hongjoong shouted.

The crowd silenced and stared at the captain. Jongho met his eyes, revealing a black eye forming on his left eye. Hongjoong exhaled and closed his eyes.

“ _Let him go, brother_ ,” he ordered as he opened his eyes again.

Without arguing, Jongho released his grasp on his opponent’s wrists and let go of his face. The man scrambled to his feet and ran off as blood dripped from his nose.

“Show’s over,” Dinah told the crowd. “Move along.”

They obeyed and went on with their businesses.


	7. Locations

The rest of the crew met up later that afternoon and headed back to the ship. Hongjoong didn’t hesitate to call a meeting in the boardroom after Jongho was given cold, raw meat for his eye. He wasn’t angry at the youngest crewmember, but he was disappointed that he used his hands against another civilian. However, Jongho had a good reason to fight.

“ _No woman should be treated like that_ ,” he had stated. “ _Especially not any of my sisters. He deserved to have his face smashed._ ”

The captain didn’t scold him. Jongho was an adult, and Hongjoong wasn’t his mother; but he did punish him by not allowing him to join them in their next exploration of a city. He was put on ship watch.

Now in the boardroom, Hongjoong unrolled the first scroll on his desk and Celestia stood next to him with a notepad, ready to decipher any riddles there might be. She blew some of he dust away, causing Yunho to sneeze.

“Bless you,” Phoebe said.

The scroll was well aged with time and about the size of standard printing paper when rolled out. The string tied to it was deteriorating, the paper was brittle, and the writing was faded but still readable. It didn’t seem to be more that at least three hundred years old.

Celestia took her magnifying glass and began to read:

**_“-In a place where the water never ceases_ **

**_-Where the mountains of the snow barely touch the sky and the air never warms_ **

**_-The mausoleum of a great and forgotten queen, her husband’s love is legendary_ **

**_-Men fought to death, Christians died for peace, and animals were mocked_ **

**_-An emperor rests here, lost and nearly forgotten. His greatest achievement occurred after death_ **

**_-Playwrights, warriors, women, and poets walked the streets all for the same purpose. The great Athena stood watch_ **

**_-The Huns passed it despite all that was done to keep them out, before the great Yuan. She was the pinnacle of protection._ **

**_-Stones of blue and grey, death and magic all as one. A great clock, an altar perhaps? Only those of a time before Congregation know._ **

**_My time is coming to an end. I have seen the world for all of its glory and wonders, but in my findings, I’m leaving a treasure. This treasure filled with precious stones, gold, and silver will belong to those with the kindest hearts and the bravest souls. For those individuals, I ask that you use it for not only your own good, but for the good of their fellow man. The diamond I had carried is the key to unlocking its capsule, but I have divided it into eight pieces and hidden them in various places around the world._ **

**_A warning to those whom take this journey: others will be after this treasure but_ ** **_for more selfish reasons. This journey is not for the faint of heart. You will be tested, but remember to trust in each other and your instincts. Remember one thing as you go along: gold and precious stones won’t be the only treasures you find._ **

**_-F.W._** ”

“You’d think it’d be a little more dark and mysterious,” Dinah joked, “but it’s kind of just in your face already.”

“Well, let’s try to figure out the clues,” Celestia replied. She read the bullet points on the scrolls about two more times before writing on her note pad. Phoebe had her laptop with her and began typing away at something.

“I can tell you now that number seven is The Great Wall of China,” the archaeologist continued. “And clue number two is the Rockies in Colorado.”

“Good start,” Hongjoong nodded.

“Number six is Acropolis in Greece,” Grace-Anne spoke up. “The name ‘Athena’ gave it away.”

“Number eight sounds like Stonehenge,” San chimed in.

“Correct,” his wife nodded. “And numbers one, three, four, and five are Niagara Falls, Taj Mahal, the Colosseum, and the Great Pyramid of Giza.”

The rest of the crew looked at her in astonishment.

“How?” was all Dinah could manage to get out.

“I read a lot of history books growing up,” Celestia smiled.

“Well, I just looked up where three pieces of the diamond were discovered,” Phoebe set her laptop on the desk and turned it towards everyone else, “The two sitting in the Smithsonian were discovered at Stonehenge and in China, and the missing one was found in Greece.”

“ _Well, that saves us three extra trips_ ,” Hongjoong said. “ _So we’ll be heading to_ _Egypt, Colorado, India, Italy, and New York._ ”

“ _I thought Niagara Falls was in the Venezuela_ ,” Mingi spoke up. “ _That waterfall we saw a few months ago._ ”

“ _That was Angel Falls_ ,” the captain replied.

“Oh.”

“ _Where do we start, captain?_ ” Seonghwa asked.

Hongjoong pulled out one of his maps and pinned it to the corkboard behind him. With a red marker, he began circling the general locations of each famous sight.

“ _I’ll map everything out tonight_ ,” he promised, “ _and our journey will start the day after tomorrow since I’m keeping my promise of having our one day vacation_.”

“ _Do Mingi and I need to set a course and navigations?_ ” San asked.

“ _Later. For now, meeting adjourned._ ” 

-

Dishes.

It was a chore everyone hated to do, but it needed to be done. Yunho and Grace-Anne both liked having clean spaces to cook in. They took turns doing the dishes each night, and it just happened to be Grace-Anne’s turn after dinner. She had the radio on to help the time go by and make cleaning seem not as boring. Grace-Anne hated dish duty growing up, but she didn’t mind it as it became more routine since joining The HALA’s crew.

Her hand became to cramp up. Setting the sponge down, she massaged and stretched her palm and fingers. She glanced over at the remained unclean dishes. Only two left.

Good, she thought.

A pair of hands sat on her waist and soft, plush lips began trailing kisses from her cheek down her neck and onto her shoulder.

“Miss me that bad, Seonghwa?” Grace-Anne laughed at her fiancé’s sudden affections.

He rested his chin on the crook of her neck and whined, “I’m lonely.”

She turned her head and kissed just above his eyebrow. “I’m almost done, babe.”

Seonghwa kept his embrace on her as she finished cleaning and drying the last two plates. After setting them on the drying rack, she dried off her hands with a towel and turned to face her fiancé. Throwing her arms around his neck, her lips met his. His arms wrapped around her more tightly in a loving embrace. The kiss deepened, Seonghwa refusing to let her go anytime soon. She enjoyed moments like this. When it was just the two of them, every problem in the world just seemed to melt away into oblivion. No tears, no storms, just happiness.

An exasperated sigh sounded from behind them. The couple broke the kiss to see who interrupted their moment of bliss only to find Yunho dressed in his pajamas with an annoyed expression on his face.

“ _Can I please come into the kitchen to get a snack without seeing you two sucking each other’s faces off?_ ” he asked as he picked up an apple.


	8. Would It Have Been Different?

Sunshine warmed the city in the early hours the next morning. The crew was allowed to sleep in a little, but Hongjoong woke up at the usual wake-up time to double check his maps. Everyone else started to wake up and get ready for the day about an hour later. Breakfast was not made that morning since the crew decided to eat out for meals while wandering the city. As usual, Hongjoong instructed everyone to check in periodically to make sure everyone was safe.

However, only three people did not join the exploration: Jongho, San, and Celestia. Jongho was still on his punishment from throwing fists, so he spent time cleaning and repairing weaponry for most of the morning. San was ready to explore more of the city but changed his mind when Celestia woke up expressing her exhaustion from walking for so long the previous day. He’d never know what pregnancy would feel like, but he wasn’t about to wear his wife out by having her push her limits.

“Hi, angel,” he whispered in her ear as he tapped her shoulder to wake her up from falling back to sleep for the third time. Her eyes fluttered open, and she was met with a peck on her cheek.

“I’m going to get breakfast from the kitchen,” he informed.

“Okay,” she replied.

Once he was out of the room, Celestia slowly sat up from the bed and stretched her arms over her head to release any stiffness she had from slumber.

The baby began to kick, and she couldn’t help but giggle. Her hands rested on her bump. “You’re active this morning,” she said to her unborn daughter.

Rolling to her side, Celestia stood up and made her way to the bathroom to begin her morning routine: face washing, brushing her teeth, skin care, brushing her hair, and applying her makeup. She often found herself singing an old song or something from Broadway, and that morning was no different. “All I Ask of You” from _Phantom of the Opera_ was the first one to pop into her head. Baby girl would often move around in Celestia’s womb as a way of telling her, “Keep singing, Mommy. I’m listening.”

Celestia had always loved to sing and was often praised for her soprano skills. She had participated in the school choir, but her real passion was archaeology. Singing whenever she was working or doing mundane activities evolved into something habitual.

“Breakfast is served, my queen,” San’s voice echoed from the doorway as she finished putting on her lip-gloss. She exited the small bathroom to find her husband holding two bowls of strawberries and sliced apples.

“Since Grace-Anne and Yunho didn’t make breakfast this morning, I had to improvise,” he explained as handed her one bowl.

“It’s perfect,” she smiled before taking a bite of the first strawberry.

San stared lovingly at her. He wasn’t sure if it was her pregnancy or her natural beauty, but she always seemed to be glowing; it made her seem more angelic in his eyes. Her red hair fell in natural waves and shined in the morning sunlight, her sapphire eyes always sparkled when she was happy, and her voice could easily melt away wintery days. Her lips, however, were something he could never get over. It wasn’t just because how plush they were whenever he kissed her, but rather how there never seemed to be a moment where they frowned.

“She moved this morning,” Celestia said, interrupting his thoughts.

“Did she?” he grinned.

His wife nodded as he set his bowl on the bed and kneeled in front of her belly. He placed his hands gently on the basketball-sized bump.

“ _Are you about to ready to see us, princess?_ ” he cooed. “ _Just a little bit longer, and then we’ll finally be able to hold and snuggle you._ ” He kissed the bump before standing up again.

The couple smiled at each other before Celestia’s gaze turned to the floor.

“What is it?” San asked.

Celestia turned towards the large windows and stared out at the ocean’s horizon. “Do you think it would have been different?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

She sighed, her hand now rubbing her belly. “If we had just waited and told the rest of my family about us before going to Dubai? Or even just getting married at all?”

San didn’t want to admit it, but he sometimes pondered the question himself. They both regretted not telling anyone else, other than her mother, about their elopement. Her dad had always wanted to marry Celestia off to a son of a fellow business partner, but it wasn’t anything forced, thankfully. Mr. Wilcox did have a habit of hinting at it, though. The business partner’s son was good friends with Celestia, but he was already in love with someone else and respected her and San’s relationship despite being hidden from everyone else.

The Choi’s wanted to keep their marriage a secret for as long as possible, but as soon as Celestia found out she was pregnant, it was their wake-up call to tell the truth no matter how much it might pain the Wilcox family. That plan never took place due to that fateful night of the murders.

San took his bride by the shoulders and faced her towards him. He used his index finger to lift her chin. “Look at me,” he commanded. Her eyes met his, and his hand caressed her neck. “Nothing could have prepared us for what happened that night at the house. Maybe things would have been different, but I’m not a time traveler. Your mother knew about us and got us out of there for us to start over, and that’s all that matters. Yes, we lost a lot that night,” –His hand traveled to the top of her bump- “but we didn’t lose everything.”

Celestia stared off for second, then back at her husband. “I guess you’re right,” she sighed.

San kissed her, and then remembered something. “I meant to give you your gift last night.”

As he went to grab the bag from his nightstand, Celestia eased herself down on the edge of the bed. San then pulled the desk chair up to it, and a smile couldn’t seem to leave his face as he gave her the small gift bag from the jewelry store.

“I was going to give this to you after baby girl comes,” he admitted, “but I figured since we were already at the shop in town, I might as well get it now. Think half of it as an early birthday gift.”

“And what’s the other half?” she asked as she pulled the box out and opened it.

Her big, blue eyes lit up and jaw dropped as she stared at the small bracelet nestled in the box. “Oh, honey!” was all that came out of her mouth.

“You like it?”

“It’s beautiful! I love it!”

Her fingertips gently glided over the smooth pearls. She thought about it being linked around her daughter’s tiny wrist, reminding her of how her mother shared a similar bracelet. Tears began to form in her eyes.

“What’s wrong, angel?”

Celestia sniffed. “Hormones.”


	9. Jump to Conclusions

Taeran looked out the view of London from the bridge over the River Thames. She tried to take it in, but the way Dr. Steinbeck had been acting would not leave her mind. Everything about the whole lunch didn’t sit well with her. Of course, she had a habit of not trusting people and thinking they all have ill intensions. This time, however, she felt this time her conscious was warning her of real red flags being waved. Her arms remained crossed, giving Mingi signals that something didn’t sit well with her.

“ _What’s wrong?_ ” the tall young man asked her.

“ _Nothing,_ ” she brushed it off.

“ _Taeran, you and I both know that when you look at a view with your arms crossed, something is bothering you._ ”

How was it that Mingi knew his favorite girl so well? Taeran could never figure it out, but she knew he cherished taking note of the small things out of love.

She let out a sigh, met his eyes, and answered, “ _Something about Dr. Steinbeck hasn’t been sitting right with me._ ”

“ _How do you mean?_ ” Mingi asked. “ _He fed us lunch, showed us his collection, and gave us an exciting adventure to go on that could help us all if we succeed._ ”

“ _Did you see the way he kept looking at Celestia’s neck?_ ”

“ _Okay, that was kind of creepy._ ”

“ _I mean he kept staring at her necklace. Like he knew something about it that we didn’t know._ ”

“ _It was from her grandparents, if I’m not mistaken._ ”

The wind began to pick up speed, the couples’ coats dancing in it. A boat passed under the bridge, and they waved to the other tourists on it. Mingi wrapped an arm around his girlfriend.

“ _You’re correct,_ ” Taeran nodded as she rested her head against his chest. “ _But I don’t think she ever mentioned where her grandparents got it._ ”

“ _Are you saying you think there’s more to this mystery than what we’ve been given?_ ”

Taeran shrugged. “ _I have a hunch, I just hope I’m wrong. I still stand by to what I said about the whole ordeal being fishy._ ”

“ _Well, think about the other treasures,_ ” Mingi changed the subject.“ _Aren’t they similar to Celestia’s necklace?_ ”

“ _How did you-?_ ”

“ _When you get a hunch, you typically are correct most of the time._ ”

Taeran chuckled. “ _I think you secretly have telekinesis, but if we’re both right we might already have had one of the diamond pieces on board this whole time._ ”

Without reporting it to the captain, the two sprinted off the bridge back to the ship. A few shoulder bumps with other pedestrians did give them a few “Watch yourself” comments, and Mingi nearly slipped on a puddle but caught himself before his butt could hit the pavement. His ankle throbbed a bit, but he managed to keep up with his girlfriend as they ran.

Out of breath, the pair made it back to the ship. Taeran punched in the code and the door opened to allow the two inside.

“ _What happened?_ ” a curious Jongho asked as he was headed to the kitchen for a snack.

“ _Call Hongjoong_ ,” Mingi ordered. “ _We think we might have discovered something._ ”

Taeran knocked on the Chois’ bedroom door.

“Come in,” Celestia’s voice welcomed.

The mathematician opened the door and stepped in to find San helping his wife put her boots on, as her thirty-seven week baby bump would make it impossible for her to do herself.

“You’re back early.”

“Sorry to disappoint you,” Taeran commented sarcastically, “but Mingi and I think we’ve discovered something.”

“ _Have you alerted Hongjoong?_ ” San asked as he helped his wife to stand.

“ _Mingi’s on the phone with him now. Just come into the board room, and we’ll explain_.”

The four of them along with Jongho waited patiently for the rest of the crew to return to the ship. Once everyone had gathered in the boardroom, Hongjoong gave the couple the floor.

“ _This is going to sound crazy,_ ” Mingi began, “ _but we have an idea on where the third missing stone might be._ ”

“Celestia,” Taeran spoke up, “where did you say your necklace was from?”

Lighting touching the diamond on her neck, she answered, “It was my grandma’s. My grandpa gave it to her.”

“And you don’t know where your grandfather got it?”

Celestia shook her head. “My family would try to get him to spill the beans, but the secret was kept between him and my grandmother. Unless he wrote down something about it somewhere, I’m afraid they both took the secret to their graves.”

“Wasn’t he an archaeologist?” San asked.

“Well, yes, but he retired after my sister Soleil was born. What does that have to do with anything?”

“We figured by the way Dr. Steinbeck was staring at your necklace yesterday,” Taeran explained, “he probably knows something we don’t.”

“What are you saying?”

“I think she means that the diamond in your necklace,” Dahae chimed in, “could be the missing third piece that was discovered in Greece.”

“No,” Celestia objected. “That’s ridiculous!”

“I know how it sounds, but it makes sense,” Taeran said.

“I don’t think it does,” Phoebe said. “Anyone could have found the diamond and lost it. That doesn’t mean it was her grandfather who discovered it.”

“Maybe it was,” said Dinah. “And there might have been a chance he somehow knew Dr. Steinbeck.”

“The necklace could have been purchased from a Tiffany’s store or someplace like that,” argued Celestia.

The rest of the crew then began to debate over the necklace as if they were in a courtroom setting. Hongjoong had been silent the entire time, allowing his crew to come up with their own conclusions. This was something he often did when the crew was trying to put pieces of a puzzle together. To him, it was his way of having them build their teamwork for future missions; but now was not one of those days. Their voices began to overlap one another as different opinions were being argued all at once.

“ _ENOUGH!!!!_ ” the captain commanded. Everyone else went silent.

Hongjoong took a deep breath to calm his nerves before speaking again. “ _Listen, I understand both sides of the situation at hand. I agree that there’s a possibility the necklace could have been discovered by Celestia’s grandfather, but I agree that we can’t know for sure until we have all of the answers. There are still many questions that need answers to, so we can’t jump to conclusions just yet._ ”

The crew exchanged looks with each other.

“ _How about we just agree to keep an open mind?_ ” Dahae suggested.

Some nods and a few “okay’s” and “sure’s” passed around the crewmembers before the captain dismissed them.


	10. Something More Valuable

Evening rolled around, and with everyone on different sides of the diamond situation Hongjoong had everyone eat with their significant others’, Yunho and Jongho eating alone. The crew typically ate together on the deck, but this was one of those rare occasions where they ate separately to avoid any heated arguments. Hongjoong wanted everyone to have a chance to cool down whenever everyone started taking sides. Although the crew had agreed not to argue in this situation, the captain wanted to avoid any slip-ups. He needed his crew focused on preparing for the quest. The necklace would be dealt with later.

It was Yunho’s turn to do the dishes that night. After each crewmember brought their plates and silverware, he immediately got to work.

When he was in the middle of rinsing the fourth or fifth plate, a hard knock sounded from the side of the ship. Yunho turned off the water, dried his hands on his apron, and left the kitchen to answer who was by the ship. He punched in the code for the door to open and found Dalia standing outside.

“Oh, hello, Yunho,” she greeting with a smile, her caramel skin glowing under the dim dock lights.

“Hi,” he answered as he brushed his hair out of his eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“Is the captain here?”

“Yes. Is something wrong?”

Dalia glanced behind her, and then looked back at him. She pulled a standard-sized, yellow envelope out of her jacket and handed it to him. “I could get fired for this, but I think you and the crew will need this.”

“What is it?” Yunho asked as he took the envelope. His hand lightly brushed hers, and he tried to blush.

“It’ll explain everything,” she replied. “But keep it safe. It’s a tool that will come in handy on your journey.”

Yunho tried to open the envelope, but Dalia stopped him. “Not here. Let the captain open it when you’re all alone.”

“Okay,” he nodded in agreement.

“I must go, but I’ll see you soon.” She pecked his cheek before dashing off into the night.

Dumbfounded with his heart picking up its pace, Yunho stood there frozen. He had just met the professor’s assistant yesterday, and he already had received a kiss from her. However, he didn’t know if should say he was in love with her. For all her knew, it could have been just the idea of having a pretty woman on his arm that sent his mind racing. Therefore, it could have been a crush.

Although he and the captain were raised by Hongjoong’s father, the boys were always taught to respect women and to cherish their future spouses as precious gemstones.

After finally regaining mobility, he closed the door and turned to the direction of the captain’s quarters.

-

Both Dahae and Hongjoong were silent as they busied themselves with their own tasks. Dahae was sitting in her chair by the coffee table and taking notes on what to do if certain animals attacked them in each location they would be exploring. The captain sat at his desk and was finalizing his route before calling San and Mingi to set it into the ship’s navigation system. The two typically made small talk as they jotted down their thoughts, but when Hongjoong was focused, a peep never escaped his lips. Some movements of word formations were there, but it was his way of talking to himself when the gears in his brain were turning.

A sudden knock on their door made them both jump.

“ _Who is it?_ ” Hongjoong asked.

“ _Delivery for Kim Hong Joong_ ,” Yunho’s voiced answered.

Dahae stood from her chair and went to the door. Once she opened it, a blushing and smiling Yunho stepped in, holding a yellow envelope in his hands.

“ _Are you okay?_ ” Dahae asked.

“ _Y-Yeah_ ,” the cook stuttered. “ _Uh…the p-professor’s assistant brought this_.”

“ _Dalia?_ ” She took the envelope and gave it to the captain, whom was now standing next to her.

“ _She didn’t tell me what was in it. She just said it would help us and to keep it safe._ ”

Hongjoong opened the flag and peaked inside. From what he could tell, it was a bunch of papers bound together with string.

“ _Alright,_ ” he said. “ _Thanks, Yunho._ ”

The younger man bowed before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

“ _Is he okay?_ ” Hongjoong asked as he placed the envelope on his desk.

Dahae chuckled as she moved closer to her fiancé. “ _I think when Dalia came by with whatever she brought, she must have kissed Yunho before leaving._ ”

Hongjoong met Dahae’a eye and smirked. “ _How could you tell?_ ”

Her hand rested on his cheek. “ _Because you had a similar reaction when I first kissed you, baby._ ”

This made him chuckle at the memory. Back when it was just him, Yunho, and Dahae, he had invited her on the deck one evening to have a picnic under the stars. When they had finished their meal, he turned on Frank Sinatra for a slow dance. She had gotten caught up in the moment that she subconsciously pecked his cheek, and Hongjoong had turned into a blushing, giggly mess for about an hour afterwards.

Sliding his hands around Dahae’s waist, he whispered in her ear, “ _I think my kissing you skills have improved since, hm?_ ”

“ _Have they now?_ ” she giggled. “ _Show me then._ ”

Immediately, Hongjoong pressed his lips against Dahae’s in a passionate kiss. Her arms flew around his neck as their lips danced in a steady rhythm, and he pulled her closer to him. The kisses deepened, and Dahae felt her body heat rise. Her heart started racing when his lips trailed from hers down to the crook of her neck. Hongjoong returned to her lips, but before he could continue Dahae stopped him.

“ _Don’t you need to set the course for the ship?_ ” she said.

“ _Right,_ ” Hongjoong nodded.

Kissing her one last time, he let go, gathered his notes from his notes, and headed towards the door. Just before he walked out of the room, he turned back towards his fiancée and said with a wink, “ _We’ll continue when I get back, my love_.”

-

“ _Since Italy is closest,_ ” Hongjoong explained to the pilot and navigator, “ _we’ll start there. After that, we’ll head over to Egypt. Then we’ll head east to India, and then to New York. Colorado will be our last stop_.”

San immediately used his compass and maps to calculate their path, and Mingi typed it into the autopilot system and set it to where he would drive the ship at a certain time the next morning.

“ _And I’ll talk to Dinah about setting up the weather protection for tonight and tomorrow,_ ” Mingi added.

“ _Alright, you’re free to go,_ ” the captain excused him. “ _I want to talk to you for a minute, San._ ”

Mingi left with his notebook full of pilot’s notes, and San stood straighter. “ _Something wrong?_ ” he asked.

“ _How is Celestia feeling?_ ” Hongjoong lowered his voice. “ _I don’t think Taeran_ _meant to worry your wife about the whole necklace situation._ ”

“ _It’s okay,_ ” San reassured with a forgiving smile. “ _She came and apologized after dinner. It’s just that Celestia and I lost a lot the night her family was murdered. All we had were some clothes, valuable items, and money her mother gave us. The necklace means a lot us but mostly her. It’s her way of feeling that she always has them with her._ ”

“ _I understand, but I want you two to know that we’re your family as well._ ”

“ _And we wholeheartedly appreciate it._ ”

San paused for a second, seemingly in thought. “ _I did discuss the matter with her again. She’s a little apprehensive about giving up the necklace, but if it’s a key to figuring this puzzle we’re all in then she’ll hand it over._ ”

Hongjoong just nodded. “ _Well, if we can, we’ll try to somehow get it back to you_.”

San smiled. “ _Thank you, but if the baby comes before then, it won’t matter. Diamonds are beautiful, but it’s replaceable. Our little baby is much more precious to us._ ”


	11. Articles

As soon as the sun had completely set, the HALA sailed away from the port and out to the sea. Once Mingi made sure it was a few miles from the shore he switched the gear into flight mode. The wings expanded from the sides of the ship with it’s usual clambering noise, and the center of gravity shifted as the ship picked itself up out of the waves into the cool night air. The oxygen shield was switched on, and Mingi set the course to Italy to autopilot.

Yunho finished cleaning up the kitchen with thoughts of Dalia swimming around his mind. San fixed a warm bath for his wife to help ease her back pain, and Grace-Anne and Seonghwa discussed wedding plans over a glass of red wine before bed. Wooyoung and Dinah played a few rounds of poker with Yeosang and Phoebe at the dining table. Mingi and Taeran turned in for the night, and the captain and his fiancée also crashed into dreamland after continuing their smooch session when he returned from the meeting.

Jongho busied himself with a workout session before bed. The weaponry storage room was connected to the small workout room beneath the captain’s quarters, so it was easy access for him to care for the weapons and build his strength whenever he was finished with his daily chores. He lifted a few weights and did some push-ups and crunches, but what really distressed him was the punching bag in a corner of the room. The bag had clearly seen better days since Jongho had began using it to release any anger he was feeling. Using it helped him to control his anger and not use his hands against other people. However, he sometimes couldn’t help it if he came across someone who thought it would be a smart idea to mess with him or anyone else on the crew. The punching would be replaced with the perpetrator’s body or face.

Beating the bag senseless typically cleared his head, but this time something was poking him in the back of his mind. He tried to ignore it, but the thought was interrupting his focus that he had to stop throwing punches and take a break. He unwrapped the tape from his hands, grabbed his water bottle, and sat down next the bag.

Earlier, he was returning to fixing a faulty weapon when he overhead Yunho and Dalia’s exchange. He didn’t really think much of at first when he believed Dr. Steinbeck had sent over with something. That was until she had said that she could get fired for giving them whatever she brought. She was in a hurry to return to her boss, and Jongho was now starting to understand why Taeran didn’t trust people.

Questions filled his head. What did Dalia have that she claimed Hongjoong needed to see? Why did she come at this time of night? And why would she be fired for doing so? Was the archaeologist not as nice as they thought?

Jongho didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but he was starting to feel that something wasn’t right.

He rose up, and decided to trust his instincts. Once he turned the lights off in the workout room, he dashed back to his room, and logged onto his laptop at his desk. He immediately began his own investigation on the acclaimed archaeologist Dr. Steinbeck.

Once he typed the professor’s name into the search bar, a plethora of news articles popped up. Most of them were about his exotic discoveries in various countries, some talked about things in his personal life such as his wife’s passing, but one article in particular popped caught his eye.

**_New Information on the Missing Eight Released_ **

Jongho clicked on it and almost didn’t believe what he was reading. The article explained the disappearances of eight other scientists who had worked with Dr. Steinbeck on his discoveries. They were all gifted archaeologists, but around the time of the discoveries of different artifacts they somehow mysteriously disappeared one by one.

However, each of the missing eight turned up dead months later. The first scientist to disappear, Dr. Jacob Reinhart, had gone missing just before a lost statue was dug up in Peru, and his remains were found in a ditch about two miles from the dig sight. Yasmine Gonzalez and Dr. Terry Lowry disappeared when a lost stone was unveiled in Kenya; they’re bodies were discovered in duffle bags in a dumpster. Dr. Yvonne Reynolds and Prof. Francisco Bianchi’s corpses had been excavated from a sewer system in Scotland after the discovery of a king’s lost crown had made headlines. Dr. Ogata Junichi, Prof. Devoreaux Woods, and Dr. Stefania Burzinska went missing in Japan during a dig for a jade sculpture that had been buried beneath a temple; their bodies were found bound in Ceram wrap, trash bags, and masking tape and hanging by their feet in and abandoned temple. Despite all of the obvious injuries found on the deceased, their autopsies revealed they all had the same cause of death: a gunshot wound to the back of the head at point blank range from a 9 mm revolver bullet.

An investigation had gone out to find the weapon, but all of the leads had turned up dead. No one had reported of any gunshots or suspicious activity surrounding the time of the murders, which was suspicious. A video of Dr. Steinbeck popped, and when Jongho had clicked on it, he found it was an interview about to case of the missing eight.

“It’s really a pity what happened to them,” he had said. “They were all talented in their line of work. Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to discover such hidden wonders of our world.”

Jongho noticed the professor’s behavior throughout the entire video. His voice didn’t quite match with the sorrowful words he said. It sounded too rehearsed, and there was almost no emotion in his voice despite his face pulling the many sad faces he could conjure up. Dr. Steinbeck was also shifting in his seat a lot, a nervous behavior one would have if they were hiding something.

As soon as the video finished, Jongho quickly printed out the articles and dashed to the captain’s bedchambers. He knocked rapidly before Hongjoong answered the door in his pajamas and bathrobe.

“ _May I help you?_ ” he asked groggily.

“ _I don’t know what Dalia sent you_ ,” Jongho said quickly, “ _but I had a gut instinct and did some more research on Dr. Steinbeck. You don’t have to call a meeting now, but just look over this and see if this helps any._ ”

Hongjoong took the articles from the younger boy and eyed them over for a few seconds. He nodded his head and said, “ _We’re having a meeting first thing after breakfast_.”


	12. Exactly As I Say

Around nine in the evening, Dinah, Mingi, and Phoebe had landed the ship in Italy. Phoebe was quick to find and abandoned grape vineyard near Rome to land, and the landing gear whirred out and gently set the boat on the ground. The camouflage shield was set up to protect the crew from intruders while they slept through the night. To any animals or possible other humans who might pass through the woods while they slept, they would only see an old shack.

Thankfully, everyone slept peacefully.

At six-thirty the next morning, Dinah woke up and began her morning routine for the day. She shut off her alarm before pressing a soft kiss to Wooyoung’s forehead to wake him up. Of course, he didn’t wake up right away, but rather stirred a little that let her know he was exiting dreamland. Like every morning, she quickly dressed, opened the curtains to allow the morning sun through, and made her way back to Wooyoung’s half-asleep figure.

“Good morning, babe,” Dinah whispered. “It’s a beautif-“ She was cut off by sharp cramps in her lower abdomen, and then let out a curse word. Her hands immediately clutched her stomach tightly as she leaned over the bed a little.

“ _What happened?_ ” Wooyoung had sprung out of his grogginess, alarmed that his girlfriend was suddenly struck ill. “ _Is everything okay?_ ”

“ _Hold on_ ,” she grunted before disappearing into the bathroom and shutting the door.

It was silent for a few moments before Dinah’s voice echoed, “Crap!”

“ _Dinah, what’s wrong?_ ”

She dashed out of the bathroom, grabbed something from the dresser and zipped back into the bathroom again. Wooyoung jumped out of bed and rushed to the door. He gently knocked and asked, “ _Can I get you anything?_ ”

“ _Just set the Ibuprofen on the nightstand and get me some water,_ ” she replied.

Wooyoung immediately knew what she was talking about when she commanded him those instructions and went into panic mode.

“ _Will you be okay?_ ” he asked. “ _I don’t want to leave you alone if you’re in pain._ ”

“ _Woo, I’m on my period!_ ” Dinah shouted. “ _Not dying from nuclear waste. Chill out. Now can you please get the pain meds?_ ”

Wooyoung immediately ran to the infirmary, grabbed the small bottle from the glass medicine cabinet, zoomed into the kitchen for a glass of water, and raced back to the bedchambers to find Dinah lying face up on the bed with both of her hands still gripping her stomach.

“ _Here_ ,” Wooyoung said as he held out his lover’s needed items to her.

Dinah opened her eyes and slowly sat up. She took the small bottle, unscrewed the lid and poured a pill out into her hand. Once she popped it into her mouth, she took the glass and gulped down the water.

“ _I have to check the forecast for today,_ ” she spoke up, “ _but I don’t know if I can climb up the crow’s nest. It’ll be awhile before the medicine kicks in._ ”

“ _Should I do it?_ ” Wooyoung suggested without really thinking.

“ _Do what?_ ”

“ _Check the weather._ ”

Dinah thought for a minute. Typically, she could climb to the crow’s nest when it was her time of the month, but her cramps were so bad now that she wasn’t sure if she could. Cramping was normal, however she didn’t want to fall during moments of intense pain. Knowing she’d have a talk with the captain later, she decided it would be best if Wooyoung did the weather just this once. Dinah peaked out the door up and down the hallway before saying to Wooyoung, “ _Promise to do exactly as I tell you?_ ”

Wooyoung nodded.

…

Wobbly knees nearly caused Wooyoung to slip off of the bars leading up to the crow’s nest. It was about ninety feet above the deck, so it was setting off nervous signals in his system. Dinah was holding her arms out in attempt to catch him if he were to fall, although they’d both be severely injured if that happened. Wooyoung had Dinah’s notebook tuck into his coat, so he was doing his best not to lose it.

Despite his nerves going haywire, he peeked upwards and saw that he was two steps from the opening of the crow’s nest. Once he pulled himself up, he pushed the small door open and crawled through the opening. He stood himself up on the platform and was immediately met with a beautiful view of Rome. Of course, they were surrounded by forestry, but he could make out the city waking up in the distance. To his right, he could see the sun rising just above what he believed to be the Colosseum.

The sunrise somehow directed his thoughts to the woman he loved. Dinah’s personality mimicked it, and her wake-up kisses were his early morning sunshine.

“ _Wooyoung,_ ” Dinah buzzed into his earpiece, “ _do you see the equipment?_ ”

Wooyoung took his eyes off of the view and focused back onto the crow’s nest. Immediately, he went over to the various instruments set up, each connected to a covered screen. One object looked like the main rotor blade on a helicopter with soup bowl attached sideways on each blade, and it was moving along with the gentle breeze. Another was almost identical to a pocket watch, one was easily a thermometer, another could’ve been to a car gauge, and the last object looked like a test tube attached to a thin metal stick.

“ _Yes,_ ” he replied.

“ _Ok, I want you to look at the screen and tap where it says ‘Calculate,’_ ” Dinah instructed. “ _Once you’ve done that, the anemometer, barometer, thermometer, hydrometer, and rain gauge will all automatically begin to calculate the weather prediction for today._ ”

He gazed upon the screen for moment before finding a yellow option that read, “calculate” in black letters. The objects didn’t move, but numbers and symbols began to pop up on the screen one by one. Once it was still, Wooyoung reported back to Dinah, “ _It’s done. Now what do I do?_ ”

“ _Perfect,_ ” she praised. “ _Now, just write down exactly what it says, then tap ‘clear’ when you’re done._ ”

Obeying her instructions, he pulled out the notebook and pen from Dinah’s backpack and jotted down the weather report. He tapped the “Clear” option, and the screen faded back to the menu options.

“ _Okay, what else?_ ”

“ _That’s it, baby,_ ” she said. “ _You can come down now._ ”

The young man gulped, but he carefully tucked the notebook and pen back in his coat. Step by step, he slowly but surely made his climb down the metal railings. After what seemed to be a full minute, his foot touched the wooden deck and almost kissed it out of his nervousness.

“Woo, you did it!” Dinah cheered as she gave him a loving hug.

“ _I just hope I did it right,_ ” he muttered.

“ _Let’s check, shall we?_ ” She reached her hand into his coat and slid her notebook out. She flipped through the worn pages until she recognized her boyfriend’s handwriting.

Dinah then nodded her head in a pleased manner and kissed Wooyoung. “Perfect.”

“ _ATEEZ and significant others,_ ” The captain announced over the loudspeakers, “ _please report to the board room. We have some new leads on our case._ ”


	13. Scribbled

Hongjoong had emptied the yellow envelope of its contents and spread them out in an organized manner on the table. Papers scribbled with notes and pictures with red ink markings covered the wood, and the rest of the crew couldn’t take their eyes off of them. Upon closer inspection, the pictures displayed various images of markings and passageways in various locations such as the Colosseum, the Great Wall, the Rockies, Acropolis, Stonehenge, Niagara Falls, Taj Mahal, and the Pyramid.

“Well, that checks our answers to the riddle,” said Grace-Anne.

“And the Colosseum is just about half a mile from us,” San added in.

“So, what are all of these notes and pictures for?” Phoebe asked.

Hongjoong went to the chalkboard and flipped it over, revealing a world map covered in thumbtacks pinning notes and red yarn crossing over to various locations across it. The thumbtacks also held up pictures of faces from printed out news articles.

“ _Last night, Dr. Steinbeck’s assistant Dalia delivered these documents you see in front of you,_ ” the captain explained as he began to pin some of the pictures on the board, indicating where each structure would be found. “ _From what Yunho told us, she never said if the professor wanted us to have it or if she somehow stole it from him._ ”

“ _What do you think, captain?_ ” Seonghwa asked.

“ _At first, I was thinking he was being generous, but after what Jongho showed me his research into the professor’s past expeditions I’m starting to believe the latter._ ”

Hongjoong nodded to Jongho, giving him the “Ok” to speak. The younger man now stood by the printed articles.

“ _These archaeologists_ ,” he began, “ _once worked with the professor on various excavations. However, they all disappeared just before what they were searching for was found. Each one was in the lead for different explorations, but they had a second in command._ ”

“Steinbeck?” Dinah said. Jongho nodded.

“ _Whenever a scientist went missing, Steinbeck would take over the expedition and find the object they were looking for. Meaning, he’d get the all of the fame and glory with crediting the deceased, or in that time ‘missing,’ archaeologists._ ”

“ _Okay, that is weird_ ,” Phoebe admitted. “ _But how do we know none of this was coincidental? There’s not enough evidence to point the finger at Steinbeck._ ”

“ _Actually, I looked through some of the notes that were in the envelope,_ ” said the captain. “ _If you look closely at the handwriting on the papers, there are different styles. They must have belonged to someone else at some point. After Jongho showed me the articles, I’m starting to believe they must have belonged to the deceased archaeologists._ ”

“ _You may be right, captain,_ ” Taeran piped up as she was examining a crinkly piece of paper with blue ink scribbled on it. “ _This one has ‘D. Woods’ written at the bottom._ ”

“Devoreaux Woods,” Jongho said.

“Look at this,” Celestia pointed out what appeared to be a note on the back of the blue-inked paper. “‘The greed has fully poisoned his mind. He’s going mad, and none of us are safe. If he gets his hands on our notes, it’s over for us. We won’t be seeing our families again. Beware of his gentleman-like mannerisms. He’s not to be trusted anymore.’”

“Who’s ‘he?’” Phoebe asked.

“If you ask me,” Taeran spoke up, “it all seems to point to Steinbeck.”

As much as she wanted to break her habit, Taeran’s instincts were screaming at her to not trust the professor. The last time she put her trust in someone too quickly her parents met their end from a rifle. An ex-friend of hers betrayed her trust, and took everything from Taeran.

“Taeran,” Mingi began, but she stopped him.

“ _I know my not trusting people is a problem, but I really do feel that something is fishy, and Steinbeck is part of it all. This is a gut feeling, and it’s telling me not to trust him. I respect him, but I want us to be cautious._ ”

“ _And I agree with you,_ ” Jongho said. “ _If these pictures and notes didn’t belong to Steinbeck in the first place…_ ”

“ _Then they must have belonged to the deceased archeologists_ ,” Dahae chimed in. She met her fiancé’s eyes with a look of fear. “ _Joong…_ ”

“ _You let me worry about the professor_ ,” he commanded. “ _For now, let’s take everything we need for the task here in Italy._ ”


	14. The Catacombs

Once the crew had the notes, maps, and everything else they needed for their first task, Jongho remained on board to carry out the latter stretch of his punishment from London as everyone else geared up and stepped off of the ship. The camouflage mode was on, so no one else would raid the HALA if they were to come across the field. Sunlight danced in between the forest tree branches, providing more than enough light for their journey. The ground didn’t have too much grass, so the crew was able to walk through with ease. Hongjoong was the one leading them, Dahae behind him, and the others trailing behind them with Yunho as the caboose. San stayed glued behind Celestia, and Yeosang carried the necessary medical supplies. Everyone else was busy trying to stay quiet and alert. The forest itself didn’t seem to be traveled a lot, but no one wanted to take any chances.

For about thirty minutes, the crew suddenly came to a stop as the captain looked through an opening amongst the trees. In the distance he could see the remains of the arena.

“Almost there,” he called back.

A thud and a shocked yelp sounded from behind him. His head turned on a swivel to find that Phoebe had tripped over something. Yeosang helped her up and brushed a few leaves off of her jacket.

“Are you okay?” Hongjoong asked.

“Yeah,” Phoebe replied. “This random brick decided it would be funny to catch my foot and make me fall.”

“A brick?” Grace-Anne repeated. “In the middle of a forest?”

“There was probably an old building here that collapsed.”

“If that were the case, there would be ruins,” Celestia chimed in. “Or at least more than one brick.”

Phoebe looked down at the faded red piece of cement. That’s when she noticed it was still attached to something but somehow still loose.

“Wait a minute,” she whispered. She knelt down by it and began to push the surrounding leaves aside. “Holy-“

“What did you find, Phoebs?” Dinah asked as she and the rest of the crew rushed over.

She had uncovered some sort of circular lid made of rusted iron built into the ground. Multiple bricks surrounded it, and the lid had one handle, which told them it would lead somewhere. There was also some engraving in center, but it was written in Italian.

“This probably leads to a sewage system,” Phoebe guessed, “but from what we’ve been studying from the information given to us, this could be the entrance to the catacombs.”

Before the crew left the ship that morning, they quickly studied each of the photos and notes to figure out which ones they would need for their first stop. After about an hour of shuffling through the various papers, they were able to piece together their guides for each destination.

Hongjoong set his backpack down and opened it. He fished around in it before pulling out the picture he needed and was able to identify the lid as the entrance to the catacombs.

“I stand corrected,” Phoebe muttered.

“This is it,” he confirmed. “ _Mingi, Seonghwa, San, see if you can get it open._ ”

The three of them set down their bags, and made their way to the entrance. With Seonghwa in the middle and the other two on either side of him, all three of them used both hands and gripped the rusted handle. On the count of three, the men used their combined strength and pulled the lid upwards. It was heavy, and each of them let out grunts of effort. However, the sound of metal scraping concrete let them know it was lifting. Seonghwa, San and Mingi pulled once more, and the lid flew open and landed backwards with a heavy thud, the force causing them to stumble backwards a little.

“ _Well done_ ,” the captain praised them.

Everyone moved closer to the now open entrance and looked down into it. It was pitch dark, but they somehow managed to make it out to be a tunnel. San looked up to see which direction it was going, and sure enough it was leading towards the Colosseum.

“ _What do you think we’ll find?_ ” Dahae asked no one in particular.

“ _Hopefully, a diamond_ ,” San answered. “ _If the sources we have are accurate, at least._ ”

“ _We won’t know if we don’t explore_ ,” said Hongjoong as he pulled a flashlight out of his backpack. “ _Does everyone have their flashlights?_ ”

The crew all pulled out flashlights from their bags. Hongjoong then instructed everyone to climb down the ladder that was built into the wall of the entrance. He went first, the railings dusty and cold to the touch. A whiff of something toxic and foul smelling assaulted his nostrils, and he whipped out his black mask with a built in filter.

“ _Put your masks on_ ,” he instructed. Everyone else obeyed before following him into the tunnel.

Seonghwa was next to climb down, and he and Hongjoong helped everyone else who climbed down the ladder. Celestia had help from San and Taeran as she reached the bottom, and Yunho was the last to climb down. Before he shut the lid, Yunho had managed to pull the brick out of the ground and use it as a wedge to keep the lid open for when they left the tunnels.

Thirteen flashlights switched on, illuminating the once dark catacombs, and the crew began their journey through it. The air in the tunnel was cold despite the outside weather having the warmth of early springtime. It was also quiet, the only noises being the crew’s footsteps echoing off the walls and water dripping in the distance. The catacombs weren’t claustrophobic. Mingi and Yunho’s heads barely brushed the ceiling, and the width allowed for two people to walk side by side. The ground beneath them was made of rock, and a few loose stones were kicked with each footstep.

For the first few minutes of their walk, the tunnel seemed to just be nothing but that. No ancient markings, no skeletons (thankfully), nothing. The only sound that now echoed was the city’s traffic passing above them.

San pulled out his map of the catacombs and shined his flashlight on it.

“ _There should be two more tunnels up ahead, captain_ ,” he informed.

Sure enough, the crew came across said fork.

“Which way do we go?” Dinah asked.

Grunting in frustration, San answered, “ _It just says ‘Follow Mercury.’ How are we supposed to follow a planet when we’re underground_?”

“ _We can’t use our phones, either_ ,” added Taeran. “ _We have no signal._ ”

“ _Maybe it means the chemical_ ,” Wooyoung chimed in.

“ _Why would anyone need mercury down here?_ ”

“ _I’m just trying to help._ ”

Celestia glanced at where San pointed out the instruction, and then used her flashlight to try to shine some light on something. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but a part of her hoped it was something that would help the crew move forward. Her beam then came across something engraved into the red ceiling in the left tunnel. Moving closer, the shape looked like a staff wrapped by two snakes and wings sitting at the top.

“I don’t think it’s planets or chemicals we’re following,” she called to them.


	15. Underneath the Underneath

“Of course,” Hongjoong realized.

“The Roman god Mercury,” said Celestia. “The messenger and god of travelers. He’s the god of other things, but mainly the first two.”

“So he’s like Hermes,” Dahae said.

“Yes, but the Romans basically copied Greece when it came to mythology,” Celestia joked.

“What does the symbol have to do with Mercury?” San asked.

Somehow, Celestia was annoyed by her husband’s comment, and shot him a look. “The most notable symbols for Mercury are the shoes with wings,” she snapped, “or, in this current situation, a winged staff. It’s the winged staff symbols we have to follow.”

San just nodded. He knew his sweet wife wouldn’t normally act like this. They had known each other since they were children, and San knew that Celestia was slow to anger. She has always been a sweetheart and would never hurt a fly.

Hormones, he thought.

“Looks like we’re going left,” the captain said after a moment of awkward silence. “We follow Mercury.”

Like a mother goose with her little ducklings, Hongjoong led his team down the dark tunnel, this time the ground a little harder to walk on, and the path began to twist and turn. San worried about his wife falling, so he remained close behind her despite her just having snapped at him. They came across three or four more divided passageways, one of them splitting into six paths at one point; but the crew kept going down paths marked by the staff symbol.

After walking down some steps, a noise echoed off the walls, causing them to stop in their tracks. Voices.

“There must be tours going on above us,” Dahae guessed.

San checked his map again and pinpointed where they were. “We’re very close.”

“You think they can hear us?” Mingi asked as everyone continued walking.

“Not if we keep our voices down,” Hongjoong said.

“Plus, the Hypogeum is closed off to the general public,” Celestia added. “They can only look at it from a bridge over it.”

“And the map leads us right beneath the Hypogeum.”

“Underneath the underneath.”

“What’s that?” Grace-Anne pointed out something.

Up ahead was another fork in the catacombs, but this time, a faint pale glow could be seen down one of them. Dahae checked the wall over it to make sure there was a symbol engraved, and sure enough they were to follow the light. One by one they turned off their flashlights and relied on the light to guide them.

The smell was now stronger, but nothing overwhelmingly horrid.

Soon, they approached an archway that separated the tunnel from a large stonewalled room. It was still dark, but a large slit in the tall ceiling provided enough light for the crew to spot something sparkling in the dark brown wall opposite them. The only separating between them and the diamond piece was a stone bridge with every other one discolored.

Hongjoong nearly stepped on one when Grace-Anne stopped him.

“What?” he asked.

Grace-Anne looked back down at the stones, picked up a loose rock by Yunho’s foot, and tossed it onto one of the discolored stones. Immediately, it moved down about an inch, and an arrow shot out from one side to other faster than lightning.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she said, “but you may wanna take a look down below.”

She was pointing to where the room dropped about twenty feet around them and the bridge. When everyone else looked over, the smell finally made sense. To their horror, piles of dry human skeletons littered the floor beneath them. Each one had some sort of stick poking out from various body parts. Both the sight and smell triggered Celestia’s nausea, and San followed her back down the path to a different one for her to release everything that was firing up her throat.

“What kind of Indiana Jones movie did we walk into?” Dinah complained. “If we all try to make it across without stepping on the certain stones, we’d all be dead.”

The captain knew it wouldn’t be too terrible, but he didn’t want to risk losing his whole crew all at once. Even if they did get across unscathed, none of them knew how to dislodge the diamond piece from the wall if it was wedged in there really well. Then, he remembered something. He turned to Grace-Anne.

“Since you’re our Geologist, do you think you can get across and get the diamond?” he requested.

With a confident smile beneath her mask, she nodded.

Not only did Grace-Anne geodes, gems, and other matter of geology, but she also learned about jewel thieves and how they would use their own tactics in their stealing. Of course, none of the crew condoned it, but it did come in handy once in a while on their quests.

Slipping off her backpack, she gave it to Seonghwa to hold. She opened it up and pulled out a small pouch and her gloves. As she stepped up to the first stone, she slipped on her gloves and wrapped the pouch around her waist.

“Now or never,” she whispered to herself.

“Be careful, Grace-Anne,” Seonghwa warned.

Focus took over her thoughts while the rest of the crew held their breaths. When she stepped on the first stone and examined the other ones, it clicked in her mind that it was some weird game of hopscotch. However, she still had to be careful. She could lose her balance at any given moment.

Death over a game of hopscotch? She thought. That’s a new one.

As soon as she was about five feet away from the other stone platform, a few discolored ones seemed to be blocking her way. As much as she hated it, she would have to take the leap. Taking a deep breath, she got into a lunging position and threw herself over the stones and tumbled onto the platform without triggering any arrows.

The rest of the crew cheered as San brought Celestia back from her nausea spell.

Grace-Anne brushed herself off and stepped up to the stone wall. The diamond piece was stuck in there, but it was easy enough access to release it. In her pouch she held a glass replica of the piece she had made prior to arriving. In her head she counted to three, and within a split second she had swapped the diamond with the diamond-shaped glass.

“Got it,” she called back to them.

“Alright, we’re out of here,” cheered Hongjoong as Grace-Anne placed the piece in her pouch and sprint-leaped back to them.

Something metallic dropped onto one of the regular stones in front of them. Seonghwa leaned as far as he could to examine it. The object was spherical and as big as a grapefruit, and it had a blinking red light on it. With each blink, a clicking noise sounded. Another one fell through the open slit. Then another. Then another.

“What’s happen-” Phoebe began.

“BOMBS!” Hongjoong screamed.

The crew immediately sprinted like jackrabbits as more and more of what they now knew as grenades were falling into the room. Yeosang ran ahead of them as they traveled back the path they came, keeping a keen eye on the symbol; and San was carrying Celestia as she couldn’t run as fast. In the distance behind them, they heard rumbling which caused some of the rocks around them to crumble around them.

“They’re going off!” Dahae squealed.

“It’s way behind us! We’ll be fine!” Dinah shouted back.

However, the eruptions seemed to be getting closer. The cold air was now starting to heat up. An orange glow seemed to be growing behind them. Fire was chasing them, and if they didn’t get out fast, they were done for good.

Finally, they reached the entrance, but to the crew’s horror, the lid had somehow been shut. Yeosang wasted no time, using every bit of strength he had to push the lid open. The lid opened successfully, and he dashed out of the entrance. The crew seemed to jackrabbit leap out of there just in the nick of time as they ran back the way they came. Feeling the earth beneath their feet rattle wildly, everyone lost their balance as the fire roared a demon-like eruption. Ash and hot debris began to fall down, and the crew took cover by getting into fetal position.

The captain could tell that possibly much bigger ones had replaced the smaller grenades. No little trigger could have set off something so big.

“When I tell you to run,” Hongjoong commanded loudly, “run to the HALA, and board it as quickly as possible.”

Another explosion, and Hongjoong waited until it began to settle before screaming, “GO!”

Like roadrunners, the crew scrambled to their feet and dashed towards the direction of opening. Celestia struggled a little, but Dahae grabbed her by the hand and held onto it to encourage her to keep going.

Hongjoong pulled out his communicator and radioed Jongho, and the youngest crew member immediately answered.

“Jongho, start the ship now,” he commanded. “We’ve got the diamond piece, and we’re leaving now.”

“I heard the explosion, and I started the engines,” Jongho reported. “I’ll open the door for all of you to enter.”

“We’ll be there shortly.”

He stuffed the communicator in his pocket and kept running, never looking back.

They were about twenty feet away from the opening when San felt something sharp and hot pierce the right side of his back, and he cried out in pain as it burned. The impact knocked him to the ground, but Wooyoung was quick to pick him up and fireman carry him back to the open area.

“SAN!” Celestia screamed.

“I’ve got him!” Wooyoung reassured her.

“Just keep running, baby!” San encouraged her with one last breath before passing out.


	16. Venom

As soon as the crew boarded the ship, Yunho shut the side door right when the HALA took off. San was immediately rushed to the infirmary to be treated for his injury, and Grace-Anne took the diamond piece to the lab to be cleaned and stored. Mingi rushed to the deck to where Jongho was holding the ship steady. The younger boy stepped away to let the pilot take over.

“Woah!” escaped Jongho’s lips as he looked into the distance.

The HALA had risen over the trees just enough to see black smoke rising like a shadow from the Colosseum, and tourists were rushing out of it to escape any possible danger. Police cars and firemen could also be seen zooming to the fire. Chaos was all it could be described as. A few of the crewmembers came onto the deck to see what was happening. The ship was already moving far away from the damage, but the smoke could still be seen. It now just looked the size of a licorice stick.

“Hopefully, it’ll still be intact,” Phoebe sighed.

“Considering the walls are still up,” Grace-Anne said, “I think it will be. They’ll probably just close it down for a while to do repairs.”

“That explosion was huge,” Dinah exclaimed. “The ceiling above us could have easily been blown away. Did you see how big the smoke was?”

She then felt sharp pains in her abdomen and grabbed her stomach. “Pardon me,” she excused herself before dashing off below deck, Wooyoung following closely behind her.

The crew that remained on deck stayed there until the old arena was nothing but a speck. Despite being safe on the ship, everyone was still shaken from the current events. Hongjoong ordered everyone else to clean up and rest before dinner, but he didn’t bother going into his office; he instead trudged into his room and plopped himself onto his bed to give himself a break. Grace-Anne busied herself with the diamond in the lab, Taeran was comforting Celestia while San was being treated for his wound, and the rest of the men were either setting a course for Agra or showering. Phoebe was calculating ways to sneak into their next destination without breeching security, and Dinah decided to rest with a heating pad on her stomach to try to ease her menstrual cramps.

In the infirmary, Yeosang and Dahae had an unconscious San lying face down with his chin resting on a towel to allow him to breathe as the two medics worked. They had torn off his thick leather jacket and black t-shirt to examine the wound, and an arrowhead the size of a golf ball fell onto the floor, San’s blood dripping from the sharp tip. With gloved hands and large tweezers, Yeosang picked it up and set it on a separate tray to examine later. Dahae used a syringe to inject San’s wound with a solution that was quick to extract any poison that might have entered his bloodstream. Placing a tube against the wound, a pinkish-white liquid with a cloudy texture filled up the tube.

“ _Poison’s out_ ,” Dahae confirmed before disposing the substance.

Yeosang then took a suction to clean out any extra venom. He then cleaned and stitched up San’s wound and wrapped his torso in bandages.

“ _He’s going to be fine_ ,” said Yeosang after he turned his friend onto his back.

“ _Let’s get him back to his room. I think Celestia’s waited too long for an answer._ ”

-

San slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was the wooden ceiling. He was in his room. It took him a few seconds to remember what happened, but he was glad to be alive. He also noticed that he was clothed in only his pants and bandages around his abdomen.

“Hey, handsome,” a familiar voice sounded from his left. He turned his head to find his wife sitting on the bed and staring at him with a sort of sad but relieved smile, and he gently placed his palm on her cheek, his tan contrasting with her porcelain skin.

“Hi, angel,” he greeted back.

“How are you feeling?”

San shrugged. “Alright, I guess. What time is it?”

“Four-thirty in the afternoon. You’ve been out for about five hours.”

San tried to sit up, but Celestia stopped him. She gathered the pillows she could find and placed them behind San for him prop up. As he tried to adjust himself, he felt small pricks of pain shoot through his right side like miniature firecrackers.

“Did a snake bite me or something?” he winced. Celestia shook her head.

“We thought it was a rock or large chunk of debris or ash, but when Dahae and Yeosang examined you,” –she opened the nightstand drawer and pulled out a small plastic bag with the sharp, bloodstained arrowhead- “this fell out of your jacket.”

San took the bag and examined it. “What did it do to me?”

“If you were hoping it was spider senses,” Celestia chuckled, “I’m sorry to burst your bubble, Peter Parker. They did find traces of inland taipan venom coated on the tip.”

“Snake venom?”

“Yeah, but you lucked out. Had you not been wearing your leather jacket…” Celestia’s voice drifted off when she realized where her sentence was going.

San immediately saw the tears begin to pool her eyes, so he pulled her into his chest in a bear hug. He gently placed a kiss on her head.

“Don’t worry, baby,” he whispered.

“I’m your wife. Of course I’m going to worry.”

“I’m not leaving you or baby girl anytime soon.” San’s hand went to his wife’s swollen stomach, and he felt his daughter’s foot high-five his palm.

“She’s been moving a bunch ever since we got back,” Celestia explained. Her hand rested on top of San’s to secure it there.

“I guess she thinks you were running a marathon,” San giggled.

“That’s possible, but knowing that tomorrow marks me hitting the thirty-eight week mark in my pregnancy, I think she’s moving to get into position for when she’s ready to come.”

San sighed.

“I’m ready to meet her, Celestia,” he whispered against her red locks.

“’Spoil,’ you mean,” she chuckled.

“That, too,” he returned the laugh. “You’re birthday is also tomorrow, if I’m not mistaken.”

“No, you’re right.”

“Anything you want to do, my angel?”

Celestia shrugged. “Just being with you is enough.”

San lifted her chin for her to meet his eyes. “Then, I’ll make sure you have the best twenty-first birthday.”


	17. Side Effect

Phoebe busied herself with hacking the Taj Mahal’s security system while Yeosang washed up and changed clothes in the bathroom. The late afternoon sun was high in the sky with the flying ship as the bright rays warmed up the room. Phoebe her little space fan turned on to keep herself cool. Freshly cleansed and feeling better, Yeosang stepped out of the bathroom dressed in a change of clothes, leaving the air vent on to soak up steam from the shower. The first thing he saw when he stepped into the room was Phoebe’s golden locks. The sun’s rays were always the perfect lighting to let her hair shine, and he always loved how it always stood out.

When she sensed his presence in the room, Phoebe looked up and smirked.

“Hey, handsome,” she greeted.

He immediately blushed as he sat down on his bed. Opening the drawer in his nightstand, he pulled out a small brown book and began flipping through the pages.

“What’s up, Yeo?” Phoebe asked, almost snickering at her own pun.

“After Dahae identified the poison as snake venom,” Yeosang explained, “and knowing how deadly it was, I began the process to make a medicine for San’s wound after the venom was removed.”

“So, what’d you reach your book for?” Phoebe’s brow arched.

“The medicine is an anti-biotic to help keep San from getting an infection.” Yeosang turned to the page he was looking for, but frowned.

“What?”

The medic tsked. “It’ll help, but one of the side effects is fatigue.”

“So, he’s either gonna be sleepy or cranky,” Phoebe chuckled.

“Let’s hope it’s sleepy. We don’t need our navigator irritated if he tries mapping out our next course.”

“Is that why you frowned?”

“Other than the captain, he’s our human compass.” Yeosang stood up and kissed his girlfriend. “He’s going to have to sit out on our next stop in order for his wound to heal properly. I’ll be back.”

Phoebe smiled. “I should be finished before then.”

Yeosang had just reached the door when Phoebe stopped him. “Yes?”

“You were brave back there.”

It took him a few seconds before he realized what she was talking about. He shyly smiled. “Well, with the adrenaline rushing through me mixed with knowledge that we were about to become human toast, I think it gave me super strength.”

“That can happen,” Phoebe shrugged. “Regardless, you still acted courageously.”

-

“ _I don’t think the bombs or the arrow in San’s back were an accident_ ,” Jongho said. “ _The only things triggered by the rocks were the arrows_.”

After landing in an isolated area in India, the crew held a meeting to discuss recent events and sort out their next plan of action. However, due to San’s injury, they had to meet in the Chois’ bedchambers. San was propped up on a few pillows, and his wife sat up by him, her baby bump protruding a bit more. Some of the crew sat on either the floor by the numerous baby supplies, the edge of the bed, or they just stood while Mingi straddled the desk chair.

“ _What makes you think so_?” Hongjoong asked.

“ _As you were leaving the catacombs, the first bomb dropped without you knowing where it came from. When the second one fell, it came from the slit in the ceiling_. _Bombs like that don’t just fall on accident. They have to be triggered, and, from what you’ve described to me, these bombs have a pin that needs to be pulled in order to go off.”_

“ _What about the arrow?_ ” Grace-Anne asked, Seonghwa’s hands resting on her shoulders. “ _That couldn’t have been launched from the cave. We were at least a mile and half away and above ground._ ”

“ _The arrowhead was coated with snake venom_ ,” Dahae pointed out. “ _Had it even made it into San’s bloodstream more than it did he’d be dead within five minutes of him being hit._ ”

“And with the makeshift wedge somehow removed from the lid,” Phoebe chimed in. “Someone clearly doesn’t want us finding the diamond pieces.”

“ _Agreed_ ,” Hongjoong nodded. “ _However, we still need to stay on guard at all times. We’ll be landing in India soon, so I want everyone to rest and prepare._ ”

As the crew left the room, Yeosang approached San with a small orange, capsule in his hand. Inside it was what looked like a light-colored powder.

“ _It’s an anti-biotic to prevent any infections on your wound_ ,” he explained. “ _Just pour about a teaspoon in a glass of water and let it dissolve. A half a glass each night should do it._ ”

“ _Why at night?_ ” San asked as he took it and examined it. “ _I don’t mind taking it with my breakfast_.”

“ _Fatigue is a side effect of the medication_.”

San just nodded. “ _Well, at least I’ll sleep good._ ” He put the capsule on his nightstand and tried to get up.

“ _And also_ ,” Yeosang added, “ _I would like for you to sit out on this trip._ ”

San tried to object, but Celestia stopped him. “You’re back needs to heal, sweetheart.”

“Are you gonna take care of me?” her husband asked as he relaxed back on the pillows.

“Given the fact that I’m days from giving birth, I am.”


	18. Nail Polish and Bell Peppers

“Angel, are you sure?” San asked as he cupped Celestia’s cheeks once Yeosang and Phoebe left the room.

She nodded slightly. “And in all honesty,” she confessed, “I probably should have stayed on the ship in Italy. The ground we were walking on wasn’t good for my back, and I was in pain after we boarded again.”

San frowned with sad eyes. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“You were in worse shape than me, and I was too busy crying my eyes out over you.”

A sigh left San’s lips. He never meant to scare Celestia, but it was one of those things he had no control of. If he had known there would be arrows, he would have dodged it. Seeing his wife in tears broke his heart. It always felt like a punch in the stomach knowing he wasn’t able to protect her from the cause of her tears, and if he was ever the reason, it destroyed him.

“Celestia,” he whispered as their foreheads touched. “My angel, my wife, my best friend, mother of our daughter, my love, please don’t ever not take care of yourself. You are one of the most loving and caring people I know, and that’s one of the things I love about you; but if you’re hurting in any way, shape, or form I want you to seek help or at least take care of yourself.”

“I promise,” she whispered with a nod before lying down next to her husband.

-

“A little more to the right, babe,” Grace-Anne grimaced as Seonghwa carefully placed the ice pack on her shoulder. The impact of jumping over the stones had been hurting her shoulder, and Dahae was quick to provide her with an ice pack to ease the pain. She hated how cold it was, but it helped melt away any irritation she was feeling.

“Just leave that on for about thirty minutes,” Seonghwa instructed as he gently rubbed Grace-Anne’s back. “Are you hungy?”

“I’d kill for some bell peppers right now,” she sighed as she lie down on her stomach.

Seonghwa got up from the bed, left the room, and then came back a few minutes later with a bowl of raw, cut up bell peppers.

“Aren’t you a gentleman,” Grace-Anne chuckled as she accepted the bowl and sat up to eat. “Thank you, baby.”

“May I paint your toenails, too?”

Grace-Anne stared at her fiancé. Of course she loved being pampered by him, but this was a little sudden. Most of the time she was the one instigating he give her a massage or preparing a bath for her. Why was he doing this without her requesting it?

“Sure,” was all she could get out. “Nail polish is in a purple box under the bed.”

Seonghwa got down on his knees and pulled the said box out from Grace-Anne’s side. He placed it gently on the bed before grabbing a towel from the bathroom. When he returned, he sat on the bed, placed the towel on the bed; and his fiancée set her foot on top of it. From the box, she handed him the base coat, a purple color, and a topcoat.

Grace-Anne was quiet as Seonghwa worked, allowing him to concentrate on delicately applying each coat. By the time he finished a second coat of color, she got bored with the silence.

“Why all of a sudden?” she asked.

“What?” he replied without looking up.

“The sudden pamper treatment. I haven’t gotten this treatment from you in months.”

Seonghwa lifted his head and met her eyes. “Am I not allowed to treat the one I love with a few hours of relaxation?”

“I mean,” Grace-Anne shrugged, “we’ve been so busy with our travels and now the whole missing diamond situation that I’ve missed this.”

Her soon-to-be husband finished the last coat before twisting the cap back on the bottle. He leaned in closer to her face before whispering. “You deserve to be treated like a queen, because you’re my queen. I’m sorry if I ever ignore you or get caught up with my work. You know they’re like brothers to me.”

“But I’m the one who gets to steal your surname when we say ‘I do,’” Grace-Anne chuckled.


	19. The Elephant's Trunk

The ship landed in India within a few hours, but the crew decided not to head out until the wee hours of the morning as to avoid being noticed. San and Celestia spent the entire evening in their bedchambers before going to bed. Everyone else stuck to mapping out the coordinates according to the area surrounding the sacred symbol of the country. It was a bit of a struggle without San’s aid, but Hongjoong managed to figure out where to start according to the notes provided in the old map.

“ _It’s heavily populated in the surrounding area_ ,” Hongjoong said, “ _so we’ll have to stay out of sight as much as possible._ ”

“ _I’ve already made sure the security systems can’t detect us sneaking into the tunnels_ ,” Phoebe replied.

“ _I double checked our path. We won’t be going anywhere near the walls of the place. Thanks for checking, Phoebe._ ”

“ _It’s not in the Taj Mahal?_ ” Mingi asked.

“ _No_ ,” Hongjoong said. “ _The maps point to a tunnel starting from across the river. They lead to tunnels underneath that open up to something. We won’t be going into the building itself_.”

“ _Let’s just hope we don’t get fried this time_ ,” Taeran groaned.

“ _I don’t think we’ll have to worry about bombs,_ ” Dahae added as she was looking through a large book. “ _If our path does end up being near the site, there’s a chance we’ll run into some monkeys._ ”

“ _Why monkeys?_ ” Yunho asked.

“ _These aren’t cute little Capuchin monkeys. These are much more vicious._ ”

Hongjoong double-checked the map. “ _Our path doesn’t go near it, just underneath. However, we still need to take our precautions as we go._ ”

The crew then finished getting supplies together for the next part of their quest. Dahae checked with San and Celestia to see if they had everything they needed, Dinah took some painkillers to ease her cramps, Hongjoong finalized any notes with Yeosang and Seonghwa, and everyone else strapped on their boots. Grace-Anne wanted to pack a snack, but Dahae stopped her and reminded her about the possibility of attracting the monkeys.

Once Yunho had activated the camouflage shield, the crew headed out into the tropical climate. The weather was hot, but no sign of sunshine. Stone gray clouds blanketed the morning sky. The crew headed straight for a jungle area where a large tree trunk was said to be marked with an elephant’s head, according to the maps. Dahae hoped that it meant the head was a drawing and not a huge skull.

Journeying into the jungle was a little troubling beginning with Mingi getting his foot caught in a vine and falling face first, making Taeran stop to cut him free. Yeosang kept wanting to stop and cut pieces of different plants to study for medicines, which earned him hand swats to get him away from them. Dinah started cramping again and nearly lost her temper at Wooyoung for something minor, and then Yunho started his complaints of the weather being too hot and getting tired of carrying the maps (he was only carrying one).

“ _Would you guys knock it off already?_ ” Hongjoong snapped.

“ _Sorry, I forgot my painkillers,_ ” Dinah sassed back as she tried to stand back up from doubling over.

“ _I’m not talking about your lady cramps. I mean, just stay focused right now._ ”

His eyes met Dahae’s, and the look she gave him was all he needed to chill out. He knew he shouldn’t get upset over a small inconvenience happens, but he couldn’t help if he was short with his crewmates. He hated that he was such a perfectionist at times, and it caused him to get into arguments with them. Hongjoong liked to keep a schedule, however, he had to constantly remind himself that it’s not a homework assignment that needs to be due by a certain day at a certain time.

“ _Let’s…keep going_ ,” the captain managed to instruct as he calmed down.

Not even two seconds later, he trips and falls against something hard, causing him to land in a kneeling position. When he stood up, he noticed his blood was dripping onto a cut tree trunk. As he looked closer while checking to find the source of the bleeding, he noticed how oddly shaped the age rings were. They formed weird shapes almost to mimic an animal’s head.

“The elephant’s trunk,” Dahae figured it out as she pulled out a rag. “ _This is our entrance_.”

“And all it took was for the captain to pancake face first into it,” Dinah chuckled to Grace-Anne. Dahae shot her look, and Dinah shut her mouth.

Yeosang inspected the trunk, his gloved hands detecting any sign of an opening until his foot slipped on something slippery, and he landed on his butt. A cold, stone covering had given out underneath Yeosang and went tumbling down a set of stone steps.


	20. A Path

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” Phoebe asked as she rushed over to help him up.

“Yeah,” he nodded.

Grace-Anne then kneeled down to get a good look at the stone staircase. The open itself was about as wide and long as a large cardboard box with a descending stone staircase. Each step disappeared more and more into the dark underground, and the cold dampness cut through the jungle’s humidity. Pulling out her flashlight, Grace-Anne switched it on and shined it down the staircase. Nothing out of the ordinary except for a few dead snakes, but she felt uneasy about immediately taking the steps down.

A rock sat idly next to her, and it was immediately serving as a guinea pig. She tossed it down where it could still be visible by the light beams. Landing on a stone in one of the steps, it sank down halfway, and a spear shot up from the middle of the stone. The rock was split into two pieces before falling away somewhere.

“Do any of the notes say anything about this?” Grace-Anne asked as she stood.

Hongjoong was already ahead of her and reviewing the notes on both the map and the journal.

“Yes,” he nodded once he found the page. “Any of the stones with a golf-ball sized hole in the center has a deadly spear. Have your flashlights ready.”

One by one, the crew switched on their lights just before descending down the stone steps, tip-toeing over each holed stone. The air seemed to grow colder and more dense, and a soft blue glow could be seen up ahead. When they reached the bottom, a foul stench attacked their noses as they turned a corner.

“If I see one more corpse,” Dinah threatened, “I will kick a stalagmite.”

“I don’t think it’s a dead body, we’re smelling,” Grace-Anne replied as they walked a little further. “It smells more like mud after the rain.”

The sound of a river rushing could be heard overhead. Hongjoong used his flashlight to read the notes again. “The blue light tells us that’s where the next piece is.”

“What is that light anyway?” Mingi asked as they strolled closer to the light.

“Yeah, there doesn’t seem to be any electrical fixtures down here,” added Yunho.

An opening marked where the blue light was hiding, and once the crew walked in, the light turned out to be what seemed to be twinkling blue clusters sticking to the wall and reflecting off of clear quartz fragments blooming from the ground to the ceiling. With this kind of light, the crew switched off their flashlights.

“Glow worms, of course!” Dahae recognized. “Their bioluminescence gives off a sort of blue or green light.”

“But where’s the diamond piece?” Seonghwa reminded her as the crew looked around. “It could be anywhere here.”

Jongho was about to try to move a quartz piece to investigate any nook and cranny, but Dahae stopped him with a gasp.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“These aren’t just any of the regular glow worms you hear about,” she explained. “These quartz’s have minerals that provide this species with their nutrients, and they’re aggressive if they’re touched by any other living organism. Touch the crystals, and a few of them will attack.”

“They’re not poisonous, are they?”

“They just give you deep cuts, but the bleeding is bad no matter where the laceration is.”

“Found it,” Taeran declared as she looked up something in the ceiling.

Surrounded by clusters of the glowing blue, a shining fractal seemed trapped in another microvine structure surrounded by crystals. Beside it was a sort of lock code identical to a lock combination, but rusted into the ceiling.

“What’s the code?” Dahae asked.

Hongjoong flipped through the journals and notes a few times, scanning each page individually in case he missed it. He found something on the exact lock, but no direct answer as to free the diamond.

“There’s a riddle,” he shrugged as scratched his head. “‘Not a full circle, not an angle, not even a cute angle, only a straight path will you find the key.’”

“What path?” Dinah exasperated. “The only way out is the way we came in, and even then it’s deadly.”

“And we can’t exactly pry open the little binding it’s in without touching the surrounding crystals,” Grace-Anne added.

“Maybe it’s talking about the sun, hills, and a path on a hill,” Seonghwa guessed.

“We’re in a freaking CAVE!” Dinah retorted while motioning towards their surroundings.

Taeran stared up at it and recited the riddle. Circle, angles, path. Circle, an angle, a cute angle, path. A cute angle stuck out to her. Did it mean an acute angle?

“Wait a second,” a lightbulb went off in her head. “It’s not a regular piece of land at all. It’s geometric angles. A full circle is three-hundred and sixty degrees, a cute angle is an acute angle that’s forty-five degrees, and a right angle is ninety-degrees. What we’re looking for is the straight ‘path,’ and it’s a straight line. One-eighty degrees.”

“1-8-0 is the code?” Phoebe asked.

“It has to.”

“How are you going to reach it?” Dahae wondered. “The ceiling is taller than Yunho and Mingi.”

* * *

Finishing up in the bathroom, Celestia took one last look at herself in the mirror, double-checking for any fly-away strands of hair before standing back and seeing her pregnant self. Her stomach wasn’t as huge as a typical pregnant woman’s, but she still found it cute despite feeling like a bloated fish some days. Baby girl kicked, and the mother-to-be smiled.

“You’re so gorgeous,” San commented groggily as woke up.

“Hi, handsome,” his wife replied as she waddled back into the room.

The curtains were opened just slightly to allow some sunlight in, but not enough to disturb San in his sleep.

“How are you feeling?” Celestia asked as she eased herself on the bed.

“Better.”

“You look better, too. Your color is back. Are you sore?”

San shook his head. “I can move more freely, but it only stings when I move my back a certain way.”

“Dahae said it’ll be like that for a bit, but you’ll be back to exploring our next destination.”

A smile nearly bloomed on the young man’s face, but abruptly stopped. He wanted to see the new site, but Celestia couldn’t go anymore when she’s days from delivering.

“I don’t want you to be alone,” San shook his head.

“I won’t be alone,” she promised. “The girls will rotate out on who stays with me at each stop.”

“But what about when it’s time for you to give birth? We would have to flag down an ambulance or something to get you to a hospital if needed.”

San had wanted his wife to give birth in a medical facility that was safe, and she and the baby would receive proper care; but Celestia had put her foot down on having the birth on the boat since Dahae would help with delivery. However, she was becoming more open to having the aid of a medical facility if things were to go wrong.

“I’ve heard you can’t plan for how a birth is going to go,” was all Celestia could say. “But we can be prepared.”

San just smiled and kissed her on the cheek. “Such a clever woman, you are.”

Celestia scoffed playfully before asking, “Are you hungry? Grace-Anne left us some breakfast.”

“Can you get up?”

“Watch me.” Immediately she scoot to her edge of the bed, sat up, and rolled to one side to stand. “Cake.”

San giggles as the love of his life waddles out of the room and towards the kitchen. Celestia found her meal of eggs and Greek yogurt covered in plastic, and San’s bacon and omelettes were in the same shape. She removed the covering and put them in the microwave for about a minute while she retrieved both of their drinks.

A fit of childlike giggles erupted from San back in the bedroom. Celestia thought his medicine was making him loopy until he started baby-talking and cooing in his mother tongue. Was he looking at the ultrasounds and somehow talking to the baby? It wasn’t until she returned with their breakfasts when she saw what had happened.

“Angel, we’ve got a little stowaway,” San smiled as he was now petting a Siamese cat sitting on his stomach. “Isn’t she cute?”

“She is,” Celestia smiled as she set the food tray on San’s nightstand. “Hi, kitty.”

She held her hand to the feline, palm open and face up; and after a couple of sniffs, the cat licked her fingers and rubbed her face against Celestia’s hand.

“Friendly, aren’t you? How did you get on here?”

“She must have wandered up the landing gear from outside,” San guessed. “I managed to sit up, because I had to pee; and when I came back from the bathroom, there was a super cute cat sitting on your side of the bed.”

Celestia gave the purring cat a few more scratches behind her ears before thinking for a moment.

“What’s the captain gonna say?” she asked as she sat on the edge of the bed.

The captain had a thing with animals on the ship. It wasn’t that he didn’t allow it, it was that everyone had a job to do and wanted everyone to always stay on task that getting a pet for one crewmate or for all to share seemed impossible. Everyone, including Dahae, had begged Hongjoong multiple times for a furry friend, but he always said no.

“Well,” San thought, “I mean we already have a baby on the way, so he might say our new friend has to go; but since you’re going to be here on each stop, maybe she can help keep you company.”

As if excited by his idea, the cat leapt off of San’s lap and tip-toed to Celestia’s bump. She began to purr as she rubbed up against it. It was as if she now knew there was something precious being nurtured and developed in a protective shell.

“I think we might have found our guardian for Baby Choi,” San jokes with a chuckle.


End file.
